A Rarity of a Lazy Day

{Marth 8th, open to all who need a peaceful place. This would be a great intro thread for a hero character. CLOPIN}

crnch crnch crnch crnch

The animal like male was sitting in a tree, crunching and munching on a few strange nuts he'd found. He didn't feel like hunting. He was too overwhelmed by this strange world he was now a part of. He was sitting on a low tree branch. About face height for an elephant but high enough to keep him out of reach of many humans. He tossed the shells of the nuts to the ground and sniffed the air, ears twitching almost as he watched a herd pass by. He tilted his head to the side. It was beautiful out here, he could admit that. Internally of course.

He lay back on the branch and let out a loud huff, letting his hands hang at his side. The wild child couldn't be more bored at the moment. Being new to the war meant he didn't know what was going on so he had the luxury of being bored. For now.

He looked up at the sky, annoyed that there was no moon...no sun...no nothing.

"Aw-aw-awoooooooo!" He howled. Halfheartedly and lazily though. 

"Dante, you've read that same book to her several times, no? Don't you think that perhaps you should read her other things, mon ami?"

"Well, it so happens to be my favorite book that you named me after, and I don't think she seems to mind."

The gypsy king and his ever-loyal canine walked side by side, discussing Dante's choice of stories to read to Cinderbelle, as they headed out to find Bob. The unicorn had galloped out of the camp not too long ago, on the grounds that he needed to go for a run. If they didn't find him, they would need to send out a search party, and that was not something that Clopin wished to do.

Dante's ears perked up suddenly, as he paused in his steps. His head swung in the direction of the howling he had just heard, and the fur along his spine rose ever so slightly.

"Dante? What is it?" Clopin asked, as he approached the silver dog.

"It's howling... but stay back, mon roi. It could be a villain for all we know." Dante said, as he lowered himself to the ground. Clopin rolled his eyes, and with a snap of his fingers, his scythe lay in his palms, and he looked at Dante with a smile.

"You forget I can protect myself just as well, Dante. Come, let us go and investigate."

The two carefully approached the tree that Dante had led them to, and they looked around, scanning the area.

"Are you sure this is where the howling came from?"

"Uh?"

The male looked downwards, spotting the pair come towards him. He rolled over, clutching the branch like the ape he resembled. His eyes narrowed softly as he looked down. What was that fuzzy thing? Next to what LOOKED like what he was. But he was taller, darker skinned, with ebony hair. And wore strange leaves on his body. Much more sophisticated than his own. He obviously didn't come from the same place that Spot himself came from. He was unsophisticated but he wasn't stupid. In fact Spot was quite observant and intelligent.

But just as soon as he relaxed he spotted the weapon. His eyes narrowed, teeth gritting like the canine that walked beside Clopin. "Grrrrrrrrr," he sneered down from the branch, back arching like a cat, "Grrrrraaaaaahhhhrrrrrr!"

Before either Clopin or Dante could say anything, they spotted a young boy high up in the branches, growling at them. It took Clopin a few times to get a proper view of the boy, even though Dante had spotted him immediately.

"Mon dieu, what is that? Is that a child?" Clopin asked, as he craned his neck to get a closer look. He decided the scythe was no longer needed, for fear of scaring the boy. It disappeared from his hands, as Dante looked to him.

"Is he someone's child?" Clopin asked. He hadn't known if any of the heroes had a child...any humans, anyway.

"Mon roi, he seems much too feral to be any one of ours. Perhaps he's from the human villains, and they abandoned him here...a long time ago."

Clopin's dark eyes turned on the young boy in the trees, and for the briefest moment, he saw himself in the boy. A lost child, who didn't know what to do next.

"Dante. We're going to bring him back with us." Clopin said. The silver wolfdog gave him a confused look, but he indulged his king's bleeding heart. Clopin slowly inched his way up the tree, until he was face to face with Spot.

The words they spoke were foreign to him. Well not entirely, the dinosaurs of his world spoke those words as well. But he just didn't get them. They just didn't breach his mind so he could understand them. He blinked, still in a hostile position as he watched the dog on the ground. It was fuzzy, tall and silver. Silver like his family's hair. He'd been distracted so he didn't see Clopin in the tree until he was face to face with him.

He gasped, scrambling back away from the trunk of the tree. He whimpered softly, looking at the ground. He couldn't get away now. He went on the offensive again, head dipped as he offered a soft snarl towards the man who was like him.

He gripped the branch, making sure he didn't fall. "Uh! Uh! Uff!" He made a couple of hooting noises towards the male. A warning...sort of. As much of a warning as a 5 year old could give.

Lilo, too, had heard the howling from where she was. She had adjusted about as well as she could since it had filled the land, and she knew by that point that leaving the camp without Stitch or someone probably wasn't the best idea. Even so, Lilo couldn't deny her curiosity about what was causing the howling. So she plucked up her courage and decided to investigate the sound. As Lilo went forward to do so, she spotted Clopin with a dog going to do the same thing as her. When had Clopin actually come back to them? She couldn't remember the last time she had actually seen him with the heroes in the first place. Oh well; she could inquire about that later. The top priority was finding out who or what was howling.

The closer Lilo went, the easier it became to actually see who was there. What she saw when she actually reached where Dante and Clopin were was a boy she assumed to be around her age. But he looked so... Scruffy! Wild, even! Lilo didn't think she had ever seen anyone like him before, and he interested her. There was only one thing for it.

"Hey," Lilo said in greeting as she moved closer. She realized that Clopin and Dante might not have seen her coming, but that was okay. She didn't mean any harm, and she was just a kid, so they shouldn't have had any reason to worry. Now her focus was shifted back to Spot and she looked him over again. She had heard Clopin say that they were going to bring Spot back to camp with them, which was a good thing, but she wanted to know who 'he' even was. On top of that, Lilo wanted to know what he was doing in a tree like an animal in the first place.

"Who is that? And how'd he get in that tree?"

Clopin tilted his head at the boy's strange mannerisms, watching as he hooted at him. The gypsy king knew there had to be a way to get through to the feral boy. He pulled himself up onto a branch opposite Spot, and sat down, with a calm expression on his face.

"Come. I won't hurt you, I promise." Clopin said, as he gingerly extended a gloved hand towards the boy.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, Dante's ears picked up the sound of someone approaching. The silver dog turned to see Lilo, and he dipped his head in greeting.

"Bonjour."

As she asked who the boy was, Dante looked back towards the tree, wondering if Clopin had gotten any closer to gaining the boy's trust. His emerald eyes turned back to Lilo, as he rolled his shoulders forward in a shrug.

"I'm not sure. That's what my king and I are attempting to find out. But perhaps he might listen to you, since you're a little one as well." Dante said, as he strode up to Lilo's side.

"As kind as my king is, the boy might not come down if it's just Clopin coaxing him out."

Beast had taken to patrolling the hero's camp each day since he had gotten here. Today was no different. There was never much trouble and so far it had been rather boring but Beast saw the importance of the task.

As he made his way back to canp after finishing his patrol he heard a curious sound. Howling coming from nearby. Of course with so many animal hero's around here Beast was accustomed to hearing the howling now and again. In fact there were some nights that he would join in while on one of his patrols. This howl was different though. It didn't sound like the dogs this time. Beast decided to investigate.

He moved towards the source of the commotion and as he approached he heard voices. As he got closer he saw a silver wolfdog accompanied by a small girl he reconized as Lilo. He then recognised the dog as Dante, Clopin's companion. Which ment that the gypsy would probably be close by. Just as the thought crossed his mind he saw a flash of colour in the tree, a telltale shade of purple. Clopin was up the tree for some reason.

Beast wondered if Dante was responsible for the howl. Maybe he and Clopin were having some fun. Beast laughed to himself at the thought of Dante chasing Clopin up a tree. Just as he was about to turn he saw something else, a small boy in the tree next to Clopin. A strange boy that Beast had not seen before. He looked wild with his posture, hair and the sounds he was making. This was the source of the howling. Intrigued beast stepped closer. The bow was dressed in even less than the Beast, which is saying something.

As he approached he heard Dante and Lilo talking.
"...the boy might not come down if it's just Clopin coaxing him out." Dante said to Lilo.

Beast approached "Now what's going on here? Who is this little guy and why are we all standing around here?" He asked jokingly.

Beast looked up at the little boy, not that far above him. He sniffed the air and smelt the dirt and mud on the him. "Hey little guy, you need a hand?" He said trying his best to seem non threatenin .

"Rrrrrrr." He still growled a little. But Clopin's voice was starting to sooth him, calm him down a bit. However, his head turned as Lilo approached the scene. He looked down, peering curiously at her. She was about his age, maybe older by a bit. But she also spoke words and wore clothes. He was beginning to have his thoughts solidified. He wasn't in his home any longer. He hadn't seen a single dinosaur or a single human like him. He was all alone. He stared at Lilo, briefly trying to speak to her. "Oof?" He huffed towards her.

The dog spoke to Lilo as well. Was he really the only creature here who couldn't speak? He was puzzled. He looked back at Clopin over his shoulder and started towards him, sniffing the air and holding out one of his hands as well. However, hearing the Beast's voice his ears lifted. He turned and was...more than puzzled at this point. Was this a man covered in hair like his adopted father? Or was he a monster creature like the silver thing down there? Either way, the boy was now terribly uncertain of what he should do. "Grrrrr," he growled towards the Beast, "Grrrffff."

He looked back at Clopin again over his shoulder and climbed towards him. He sniffed the air around Clopin's hand and climbed a bit closer, placing his palms on his hand as he sat back. Why weren't they like his? They were soft, his were rough and callused.

The gypsy's smile was warm, as he scooted just a tiny bit closer to Spot. He hadn't even noticed the arrival of Lilo and Beast.

Compared to his own, the boy's hands were quite small. But it was significant to Clopin. Spot was slowly, but surely, beginning to trust him. The boy's slightly wary expression reminded him of the silver dog sitting below them, when Clopin had rescued him from certain death.

With his other hand, he carefully removed the glove that Spot's palm rested upon, revealing a hand that was just as tan and as soft as the boy's own.

"We are the same, no? Where are you from, mon petit?"

(I was gonna wait but i have a mighty need XD)

Oh. So it was just a covering. The purple fabric was just a cover for his real hand. His eyes squinted towards Clopin's hand. He offered a curious stare up at Clopin's orbs before raising a tiny hand to Clopin's own, grabbing his fingers softly. The words were still lost on him. But he was at least comfortable with Clopin now. He sat closer to him and looked up at his face, olive eyes sparkling softly.

"Uff?" He woofed softly. Where was he from? That word he at least understood. He looked about, sniffing softly before reaching out a little hand, pointing to the foggy mountains from afar where he fell. He shook his finger. "Oof, uff..." He tried to tell him.

"I could try to help," Lilo said to Dante. "I mean, I've worked with Stitch so... It can't be that much different, can it?" As soon as she asked, though, she took notice of Beast. She had never seen another creature like him before, so the little Hawaiian girl was in awe of him. A soft 'wow' escaped her as she looked him over and marveled at how cool he looked. Kind of like a monster, but definitely friendly. Classic case of an ugly duckling, she thought. She didn't say as such out loud, though. Instead, Lilo would try to answer the question of why they were standing around and why Clopin was up a tree. It had to be a rather odd sort of sight, but Lilo didn't care. She was going to try and help as much as she could.

"We're watching Clopin try to get that boy out of that tree. Clopin went up because he thought it would help, I guess," Lilo said. She would have climbed up too, but she wasn't anywhere near as good a climber as Stitch was. So, the little girl continued to watch the proceedings as Clopin tried to coax Spot down. She observed with quiet reservation, unusual for her, as he removed his glove and held out his hand to the boy. Then, she followed where Spot was pointing and looked in the distance. She thought she could see some kind of mountainy formations. Maybe that was where he came from?

"You came from out that way, didn't you?" Lilo asked. She pointed to where Spot was pointing and waited for her answer. Maybe she was on to something. Clopin might have picked up on that too, but she would see how things went from there. Clopin was smart; he'd probably work it out.

Beast noticed Lilo staring at him, he didn't pay attention to it. He was used to people staring at him. The boy in the tree didn't seem to understand Beast's question, looking puzzled whenever they spoke. Clopin seemed to be able to communicate with him to some degree. At least the boy seemed to trust him more so then the rest, even touching hands with him.

The boy started pointing behind him to the large mountain range in the distance and making small grunting sounds. Beast looked into the distance wondering what this gesture ment.

"You came from out that way, didn't you?" He heard Lilo say.

Beast could sense the wildness in this boy, similar to the wildness in him if just a bit less brutal. The boy seemed lost and more than a bit scared so it made sence that he would come from somewhere like that. There must be a way to communicate with him beast thought to himself. Then he rembered that Lilo worked closely with Stitch. If she can help understand Stitch then she might be able to help Clopin with this boy.

Beast knelt down so he was closer to Lilo's level. Looming over someone as you spoke to them didn't usually go well when you looked how Beast did.

"You have experience talking to people who don't really speak our language don't you? If you want I could lift you up there and make sure you don't fall, if you wanna speak to that boy that is." Beast explained to the young girl. The boy wasn't that high above him so it would be easy to lift the small girl up and steady her.

While it might have been a lazy day for others, it certainly wasn't one for Arlo. He had spent the majority of the morning, or what he supposed was the morning, working in the field. Ever since stumbling into the camp on accident, the dinosaur had made it clear to keep to himself and dedicate his energy to creating a field to provide food for the protection the heroes offered. They were nice and all, but whenever he ventured too far into the camp he could get terrified glances and muffled gasps. All of that negative attention really brought him down. It wasn't his fault he was huge compared to these strange creatures, some of who resembled Spot. Arlo would catch himself pouting and zoning out into space, much like he was now, as he thought about his best friend. He missed him so very much, and a part of him never wished he let Spot go join that family. He wanted to be selfish, but that wasn't his nature. That wasn't the way Poppa brought him up to be. 

The Apatosaurus shook his head, bringing himself back to reality, and resumed to drop seeds into the trenches he dug with a special contraption on his back. This went on for a few more steps or so before a familiar howl caused him to freeze. The dinosaur's head shot up and he looked around blindly. "Spot?" he whispered. After a few more minutes of silence, Arlo shrugged his shoulders, a few extra seeds falling out, before resuming his task. Then he heard it again! This time it was loud and clear. The dinosaur's heart began to soar. Could his best friend really be here!? How crazy would that be? Arlo quickly finished the row, stumbling quite a few times, before shrugging off the contraption and loping towards the source of the sound. Part of him was prepared for the heartache of it being just his imagination, but a part of him knew that it was true. It had to be. 

Pretty soon Arlo came upon quite a gang of people...well critters to be more precise, surrounding a tree. There was a giant...well..thing, that had quite the manners. Then there was a fuzzy little dinosaur, or perhaps a small fox. Then there was a small Spot-ish little critter, only she was a female with pretty raven hair. "Hey..what're y'all......EEEEK!" Arlo approached softly before squeaking as the branches of the tree began to shake. The dinosaur slammed his belly onto the ground and covered his face with his front feet fearfully. Giant critters in trees were never good news but it was unlikely that anything in that tree was going to hurt him. After shaking for a few moments, Arlo removed his feet and looked in the tree again when he heard noises. It was a bigger Spot in a tree that was talking to...his Spot! It was him!

Arlo smiled happily and rose to his feet, doing a happy little dance and jump. "Y'all found Spot! I can't beeeeelieve it!" he hooted. "Spot! Spot! Are ya a'ight buddy?!" he called to the young boy in the tree.

Clopin smiled softly at the young boy, as his empathy for the poor child grew. The boy's tiny hand wrapped around his fingers, much like Esmeralda had when she was a baby. Upon his question, the boy made a couple of sounds, almost like a sad woof. The gypsy king turned his head towards the looming mountains in the distance, before turning to look back at the boy. How had he made it so far?

Below the tree, Dante's tail swished slowly, as he looked between his king in the tree, and Lilo. Yes, he remembered that once upon a time, General Stitch had been a reckless alien experiment, until Lilo had shown him how to be good. If she had such a way, then perhaps she could help coax the boy in the tree to come with them. Emerald eyes caught sight of another, who looked like some sort of canine...on two legs. What was he?

"There's a small boy up there...Clopin is attempting to coax him down from there." Dante answered, as he stood next to Lilo. The Beast seemed to understand the dilemma, as he offered to help Lilo up into the tree to assist Clopin. Dante watched with a mix of nervousness and curiosity, as he waited for Clopin.

Clopin heard Lilo, although he too had already figured out the boy had come from the shadowy mountains in the distance.

"It seems so." Clopin said, as he looked down to Lilo and Dante. It was then that he caught sight of the Beast himself. The gypsy king's throat involuntarily tightened, at the somewhat painful memory of being choked up against a wall. He fought back an urge to leap at the Beast and attack him first, as he took notice of the Beast asking Lilo if she wanted him to help her up into the tree. His eyes narrowed, before turning his gaze back towards the young boy.

"But how, little one? How can one as small as you make such a journey?" Clopin asked.

But before he could say anything else, a very large, lizard like creature with stubby legs appeared, and Clopin could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

By Mahomet's beard, what in the world is that?

The giant lizard seemed very excited about the boy in the tree, and Clopin turned to Arlo, speaking carefully, should the giant lizard attempt to harm the boy.

"Do you know him?" Clopin asked, as he narrowed his brown eyes at Arlo. Dante, meanwhile, could feel his fur beginning to ridge along his spine. He put himself in front of Lilo and the Beast, and his growls were low, but just audible enough for Arlo to hear.
(OOC: Arlo, don't worry, they're just a bit apprehensive about seeing a dinosaur! C: They'll calm down once they see that Arlo is just a big cinnamon roll)