darkSpyro

Sayan smiled back at Rose and nodded. "We should make sure we have the signs exactly as we want them before we place them, because they will be likely be no chance to fix them if we make a mistake.," Sayan said cautioning Sybil.

He then paused, noticing Jet. "Speaking of the orcas...," he then said.

"I see him. Keep a close eye on him Rose. See if he behaves abnormally. We'll return soon." Sybil said, leaving now with Sayan, and trusting that Rose wasn't going to approach the water to greet him.

"I know a tree that has very sturdy branches. It can even tolerate humidity." Sybil said, when she proceeded to reply on his last comment.
"And you're right. We can't afford any mistakes. We can't wait though. We need to get the message today." she added, wondering what the other residents were doing.

"That should work.," Sayan nodded as they made their way towards the woods.

He froze as Jet acknowledged their presence.

OOC: Two times you guys posted at the same time. Did you agree?

"Hey, good morning Jet." Sybil said, acting casually but still remaining quite far from the shore. She didn't want him to think that she was afraid of him, so she tried to establish a normal conversation that she hoped didn't take too long.

"Everything's fine. Just a busy day." Sybil answered, as if that was the most normal conversation in the world.

OOC: Maybe. ...jk

"Thanks Jet! We always appreciate it.," Sayan said as if nothing was wrong.

"You got it." Sybil said politely, knowing that won't happen anytime soon. You can't be careful.
"Let's go Sayan." Sybil said, hoping that such a rushed conversation didn't offended him.

Sayan nodded, avoiding conversation until he was certain they were out of range.

"Well... at least he's friendly. For now.," Sayan said looking back. "But we're wasting too much time here. We need to get to that tree of yours.," he quickly added.

"Indeed. Jet has always been so kind... at least when he left Shadow's servitude. He has been a big help and I am very grateful. It really hurts me that I can't have those long, pleasant conversations I use to have with him." Sybil said with guilt, even believing that Jet was merely trying to persuade them to get into the water. She felt so awful for thinking like that, especially since it was probably too early to believe the orcas were going to be after them, but she was already determined to not take any unnecessary risks.

Guardian rested next to Rose enjoying the sun but he had a look on his face that practically screamed that something was bothering him.

soon Jr. stole all of Sheloh's food and made away from the scene like a bandit with his loot trashing the fence in the process to make whoever called the tree home extra angry. by the time Sheloh would have gotten back Jr would have been long gone.

He looked at her, he was still trying to get used to having a name since he went without one for so long, then said "well I can think of a few reasons. one being that your species might actually be nocturnal by nature so your instincts are stronger at night. another reason could be focus, at night when your trying to sleep you let yourself lose focus in order to relax. another one, which i think is the real reason, could be that you try to avoid eating during the day so your not getting enough food that your species needs to eat so when your instincts take control at night to get you to eat enough so you won't go hungry. Take the orcas for example, they need to eat several pounds of food per day, with this drought going on they'll be lucky just to get a few pounds of food to eat for each of them, so it will only be a matter of time until they start losing control of their instincts as well."

"This is it." Sybil said, sanding beneath a very large, sturdy oak tree that looked much healthier and sturdier than the ones around it.
"We just need to climb it and pick some of it's branches. We need to force ourselves quite a lot. Even the twigs are strong." Sybil explained, her neck hurting from looking at the mighty tree. It wasn't as wide as her tree, but it was much taller.

Sholeh and Warren were done with the vines, and headed to the swamp to make the miraculous sticky stuff. Sholeh was quite content at her usefulness, but that was inevitably going to change when she sees her brutally vandalized tree.

Sayan looked up at the massively tall tree and nodded in agreement. "Well... we better get started.," he said preparing to climb the tree.

Quote: redwes

Sayan looked up at the massively tall tree and nodded in agreement. "Well... we better get started.," he said preparing to climb the tree.

Sybil climbed ahead, instructing Sayan what kind of branches would be best to hold the palm leaves with. While they were at it, she tried to have a little conversation, and one subject came to place.
"It's kinda nice to have Jet. I mean, he is always at his best when he wants to be friendly. If only this stupid drought didn't have to happen." she complained, wanting to endure it but also annoyed at the event, and how it was going to place many against each other.
"But hey, at least it wasn't Cairo the one who stayed. Can you imagine?" Sybil said, remembering that it was him the one who originally wanted to stay. And he really needed tons of food to keep that enormous body of his in motion.

"That is true, though I doubt Cairo is feeling the same wherever he is now. But watching him eventually turn would be even worst...," Sayan said wondering what the pod was doing.

"I really miss them... but, do you think the game will ever be the same after the drought is over?" Sybil asked, also wondering how the pod was doing.

Back in the Antarctica waters, the pod already established in a place where it couldn't rival with the neighbors. Even it if wasn't the most comfortable territory, it still had a vast variety of food, even more than the Haven. A few orcas were still trying adapt to the cold, but some were planning to even stay. The variety of meals was just too enormous, and it was the perfect place to test their sturdiness. However, most of them reconsidered it, since that would meant they couldn't have anyone to play with roughly by will like the Haven residents. Cairo was in the meantime, very solitary, in such a gloomy state that neither member of the pod dared to approach him. He missed Sybil most of all, and was so submerged in his own self pity that he didn't noticed that the pod was missing a few members.

"I hope so.," Sayan said. "I know many of the orcas will most certainly want to play after such a long break, but the question is the residents. Will we even see each other the same way after we start falling back to our instincts?," he wondered. He was afraid to see what happened to Rose happen on a massive scale.

Guardian sighed and said "well i'm afrid that you can't do that because i think that's the problem. Drought or no drought you can't ration."

Quote: redwes

"I hope so.," Sayan said. "I know many of the orcas will most certainly want to play after such a long break, but the question is the residents. Will we even see each other the same way after we start falling back to our instincts?," he wondered. He was afraid to see what happened to Rose happen on a massive scale.

"Well, you have done wonderful holding back. We have plenty of meat and fish up the mountain. There are rabbits out there too, but they are very hard to catch." Sybil explained, having seen a few rabbits while up there, but they were fast, and white like the snow, which is why they were rarely seen.
"You just need to keep yourself with enough food to at least kill the hunger and prevent the unnecessary hunting. At least we don't have to eat that much. But the poor orcas. I wish there could be something we could do. We can't feed them from the storage. And they can't go beyond the current. It is exhausting." Sybil explained, feeling sorry for the orcas, but also fear for what they will potentially become. But Sybil believed that after the signs, no one would be dumb enough to ignore them.

Sayan shook his head at the mention of the storage. "Even if we could feed from the storage, they would devour it quicker than we ever could. At least for now, they may still have a seal or two to feed off of... but that'll only last so long. But after that...," he sighed not sure what to do about it. "Let's just hope they can avoid hunting us and that sharks don't decide to interfere. In any case, the signs will be vital and should definitely help.," he added not wanting to imagine what the ocean waters would turn into.

Sybil lowered her ears when Sayan mentioned seal. She realized that she must tell him the truth.
"Well Sayan... you see, when I went to Hunted island.... there were no seals left. They have all migrated." Sybil said with a trembling lip, knowing that they consisted on much of the orca's diet.
"And the Chinook are leaving too. All that's left in the ocean are squids, jellyfish, sardines and occasional flounders. Manta rays are there too, but they are dangerous. They can't leave because of the current, but they are not enough for them. And sharks... well, orcas feed on sharks on occasion, but they won't come to the Haven waters if there is barely any food left, not to mention that few species can go against the current." Sybil explained, knowing a lot about the ocean from Cairo, who use to keep her updated on he and his pod's activities.

"I see...," Sayan said realising it was worse than he imagined. "I can imagine that they are probably already experiencing hunger pains, even if they don't want to admit it.," he added thinking of Jet.

"Orcas have always been proud animals. Of course they won't admit it. How I hate to think the terrible hunger they are going through." Sybil said, believing that starvation was a torture that nobody should ever go though, not even those who are bad.
"I really wish we could do more, but like you say, we can't possibly give them from our storage." she expressed, knowing that what they had recollected wouldn't last even a week if they gave it to them.
"All we can do is pray that they can stand it..." she said, knowing there wasn't anything to be done about it...

"Indeed.," Sayan said solemnly. "All we can do is warn residents to stay away and try not to provoke them. They won't eat each other, but they will most certainly eat us.," he then said.
He could only imagine the poor fate that awaited the one lone resident to try and take a swim. It wouldn't be much better than admitting oneself to sharks.

Sybil became quite concerned when Sayan practically said that whoever took a swim is basically doomed, but she trusted that their signs were not going to be ignored.
"Well, we are putting these signs for very good reasons. Only a resident with a death wish would even dare to approach the water with three starving orcas in it." Sybil expressed, wanting to make the signs very visible for even a mole to see.
"Oh... but I'm really going to miss washing my paws with the waves. Nothing could calm me better than that when a stressful day had passed." she said in a gloomy tone, knowing that she would have to find another pastime in order to relieve the stress that the drought was no doubt going to give her.

"We'll still have the creek at least, for however long that lasts.," Sayan said in an equally gloomy tone. The creek had helped him greatly at one time, so he would be very sad to find it gone.

Sybil was done recollecting the branches on her side, and threw them below, beginning to get down.
"Remember Sayan, we need to place them near the water, so we must have all of our senses ready." Sybil warned on her way down, wondering if the other two orcas were nearby like Jet was. They were going to place the sign where the waves wouldn't wash them away, but was still going to be too near for an orca to get them. Thanks to the game, they could beach themselves very far without getting stranded, and that was something Sybil knew both Sayan and her had to be concerned about. And what was worse, it also helped them hid their dorsal fins much better than before, so that when they tacked a seal, it was shown when it was only a few meters away, which gives one little time to react. It was no doubt that the game came more to their advantage than to the Haven residents, so Sybil was starting to regret ever agreeing to it.

Sayan was done as well, throwing his branches down. "This time... the game will be for real.," he added making his way down after Sybil.

Sybil carried her branches on her back and with her tail, walking rather slowly. Evidently, she wasn't looking forward to placing the signs.
"Maybe I shouldn't have allowed them to play such game with us. Orcas are already top predators of the ocean, and we just made them more deadly." Sybil said, knowing that their catch rate had increased significantly.

Sayan did the same, slowly walking alongside the civet. "And we've gotten better too, but we would've been better off where we started at this point.," Sayan said as they walked-- acknowledging how much better they had gotten in comparison.

"Yes, that at least is good news." Sybil said, agreeing with him, but wondered if it was enough.
"The drought is barely starting, so I trust nothing will happen..." she added, gathering courage to say what she was about to say next...
"But... if something indeed happens, I hope it is to me. Remember, I already have Rose as my successor, and you must take care of her now that you're together." she said with a cringe, being ready to be the victim if things get to their worse. She of course, was going to try her best to avoid that from happening, and was going to be at full alert.

Sayan nodded, acknowledging that Sybil was right. His first instinct would have been to sacrifice himself, but that was before Rose whom he would do anything for. As they slowly walked towards the beach with their loads, he realised that Rose would need him now more than ever.

Sybil became a little startled when Sayan didn't contradicted her, but then became glad that he understood her point. Getting caught wasn't something she wanted, but if she reacted too late, then at least the positive side would be that she would at least ease up the hunger on one of her marine friends, who have done an infinite amount of favors to her and the rest of the residents.

Having reached the edge of the forest, it was now all to climb the palm trees and get medium sized leaves, which would be enough to write the message on. She and Sayan would write it with a white sap, which will contrast very well with the dark green leaves. All was going well until she realized something; the leaves had to dry up eventually, and the message was probably not going to be as visible if that happens. However, the leaves were strong, and they would hopefully last weeks, a time gap in which she hoped all the Haven residents had seen the message by then.

As they reached the edge of the forest, Sayan dropped off his branches and began to survey the palm trees for the appropriately sized leafs. He found at least one tree at a slight angle and with good sized leafs to boot-- perfect for climbing. As he gathered the leafs, he used the vantage point to keep an eye out for any orca activity. "Seems quiet... too quiet.," he noted looking out onto the ocean.

(Okay then ... I'm just going to drop Avius off right here ...)

"Hey!" Avius said, gliding down to Sybil and her company.

"Oh yes, he is. He has grown accostumed to light it seems." Sybil said, but then realized that it was late afternoon. Keeping Rose company and gathering up the branches really took them time.
"Come on Sayan, we must hurry. We can't let night catch on to us." Sybil said rushedly, not knowing if orcas hunt at night, but if they did, it would be almost impossible to see them if they impulsively tried to attack.

Sayan nodded, quickly making making his way down from the palm tree with the gathered leafs. "There are some more trees over here that should work.," he then said making his way toward them with haste. He was so focused, he barely even noticed the unfamiliar barn owl.

Sybil felt bad that she couldn't engage into a more pleasant conversation with the barn owl, but they had a more urgent matter.
"Forget it Sayan. We'll work with the leaves we have now. We can't wait any longer." Sybil said, prompting Sayan to get down and head quickly to her tree, where there was a plant with red leaves that let out a deep, white sap when it's cut. It would be perfect for the message, but it had to be short. If the two of them took them too long to write the message, night would be on them, and they would be at greater risk. They could wait for tomorrow, yet Sybil feared that there could be a resident who took midnight strolls on the shore, like she use to do often.

Sayan quickly followed, grabbing the gathered leafs and making towards Sybil's tree. As they headed towards the tree with haste, he quickly thought up a message.
'WARNING: HUNGRY ORCAS AHEAD... too long. BEWARE OF ORCAS... not explanatory enough. NO ENTRY; HUNGRY ORCA... perfect. And to save time.... ORCA could be replaced by a symbol representative of the orcas.' he thought.

He quickly relayed his thoughts to Sybil and laid out the palm tree leafs ready to be written on.

"Short and to the point. Perfect." Sybil said, congratulating Sayan. The word ORCA could be replaced by a quick and small drawing of them. Sybil began with the message immediately, knowing what little precious daylight they had left. From the beach to Sybil tree, it was a twenty minutes walking, back and forth, so they knew that was draining them of their time.

"The signs will be on back of the orcas, but I do hope neither of them could see the message, especially Jet. I don't want them to be offended." Sybil expressed, knowing that the orcas loved them very much and wouldn't want to hurt them, but once again, instincts were just something that manipulated you if they took over, something that she hoped they would understand if they somehow managed to catch a glimpse of the warning.

Quote: Felines

"The signs will be on back of the orcas, but I do hope neither of them could see the message, especially Jet. I don't want them to be offended." Sybil expressed, knowing that the orcas loved them very much and wouldn't want to hurt them, but once again, instincts were just something that manipulated you if they took over, something that she hoped they would understand if they somehow managed to catch a glimpse of the warning.

"I'm sure they'll understand.," Sayan reassured. After all, what happened with Rose was well known and surely it wouldn't be too much of a stretch. Though he imagined the orcas' pride would surely be hurt.

As they were done with half of the signs, Sybil remembered that an orca catching them and dragging them away was part of their lives at the Haven, but now, it was going to be a permanent retreat if they got caught in the days to come, which then got Sybil curious about something.
"Hey Sayan, during the game, every time you got caught and pulled away, were you ever afraid that in one of those days, you could have been eaten?" she asked, knowing that the thrashing and roughness of the pod got scary on occasions.

In the swamp, Sholeh and Warren were already done with their task. It has been a long day for them gathering the materials, since even the swamp was suffering from the drought, but now, it was all done. Sholeh was lazy by nature, but she knew that all her hard work would have payed off later.
"Come on Warren. We are going to the leopard's den and wait for the tiger to show up." she said, deciding to wait for them rather than to look, since the Haven residents had the habit of walking all over the place, thus making them hard to find.

Quote: Felines

As they were done with half of the signs, Sybil remembered that an orca catching them and dragging them away was part of their lives at the Haven, but now, it was going to be a permanent retreat if they got caught in the days to come, which then got Sybil curious about something.
"Hey Sayan, during the game, every time you got caught and pulled away, were you ever afraid that in one of those days, you could have been eaten?" she asked, knowing that the thrashing and roughness of the pod got scary on occasions.

"At first I was, especially when Cairo first tried the swallow trick on me.," Sayan said recalling that day. He looked down at his sign-in-progress and at the crude but effect orca symbol. "Cairo certainly excelled at the game.," he added.

Sybil flinched when Sayan said something about a swallowing trick.
"Wait wait wait! Swallow trick!? What is that suppose to mean?" Sybil asked startled, being the first time she heard about that. Cairo was the only one who did that trick, and he never dared to do it with Sybil, so only Sayan and Rose had the privilege.