The Forgotten Zodiac

"Them? Do you mean that Verolen's with someone, or were you just referring to those at Coelios?" Eve asked, her curiousity piqued.

Arachne thought for another long moment. "Them. Verolen is with someone. I heard him talking in the dream, and I don't think he's insane, so he must be with someone. Hopefully someone nice. They're probably nice, if they're not hurting him." She decided, nodding.

"You dreamed about the present?" Aries blinked. She had heard of people sometimes dreaming of the past, or rarely, the future. But the present was different.

"No, Rush did. I just watched and listened."

"It's VPS' fault," Rush grumbled. "She's been trying to do that for weeks. Ever since you were upset about Verolen dying constantly. It made me upset, and she wanted to fix it. She couldn't get a strong signal until he was alive, though. So...here we are."

Eve smiled at Rush - since the air had been growing steadily warmer, they often left the front flap of the tent open, so Rush had more to look at than just the inside of the tent. Which, after three months, was bound to become redundant. "That's sweet," she said, in a voice that only a girl could manage. Then, still wanting to know, she asked, "Could you tell who it was? Israel, or someone we know?"

"No...the other voice was really, really faint. It sounded like a woman. Not really old, but not a kid, either." Arachne shrugged. "I don't really care. It's just that he's not dying anymore, and so I'm happier." She smiled.

"It's good that you're happy. We'll find them soon." Aries smiled back at her.

"I'm at the top!" Byrne called to the others down below. In truth, he was still quite a few feet from the tip of the tree, but he had gone as high as he could on branches that could support him, and thus declared this the top.

"Don't fall!" Aries called back up to him. She was too far away, she couldn't see the hawk eying Byrne indignantly.

"Shoo!" The hawk said suddenly, snapping his beak. "Hooligan. Ye haveth no business here, ruffian, away wit ye!" He hunkered down in his nest, ruffling his feathers to try and make himself look bigger. "GO AWAY, PLEASE!" He cawed loudly when Byrne didn't move. Aries' ears caught that, and immediately she looked surprised.

"No. Way." She gawked at the Tree of Seasons. "That hawk just spoke."

"It spoke?" Arachne frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It's a Turning year." Rush grumbled from inside the tent. "Every few decades, the Tree of Seasons decides to give something special to the forest, and grants the animals residing within it the ability to speak until the winter season comes again. The catch is that you can only understand them when they're talking to you. So no, you can't eavesdrop on a bunch of birds gossiping, but you might be able to catch a few rumors if you talk to them."

Byrne had not moved because, in sort, it was rather startling with an animal that wasn't supposed to speak started talking to you. Having no idea about "Turning years" or anything of the like, and only that bird were only supposed to be able to talk to the Manakete, he was feeling that something was seriously wrong. Had more than just his ability to recognise faces been screwed up when he was in that testing lab back before winter.

"I... what?" he stammered dumbly, staring at the hawk.

"Every year, mine dearest sky," The hawk sighed in irritation, cawing again noisily. "I haveth dealt with squirrel and chipmunk, but in all mine years...shoo, human, I haven't the patience to deal wit ye this morn'! And I do not favor the prospect of pecking thine eyes out today, I do not! 'Tis too cold for such a thing, thy blood shalt freeze on mine beak," He squawked unhappily.

"Ah... ah..." Byrne stammered, before moving hastily  to get out of the tree before the hawk killed him. He slipped down a few branches and let out a yelp as he free-fell those few feet, before he felt the tree "catch" him. After that, he went down more carefully, but still as fast as he could.

Aries laughed a bit at that. "Did the bird tell you to leave? At least he didn't attack you," She smiled a bit. "It's a Turning year. You'll be able to understand animals this year, and they'll be able to understand you. It won't happen again in a good long while, so enjoy it. The chances of it happening two years in a row are extremely rare."

"ARIES, THERE IS A SPIDER IN THIS TENT." Rush screeched suddenly. "And it's SINGING. I dislike this year already!"

"Plleeeeaaaaase don't squish meeeee~" The musical humming could be heard quietly from a corner of the tent, where a little spider was sitting. It spoke normally in it's tiny voice, "I can stop singing. Just don't squish me. I woke up too early and it's all cold outside, but it's warm in here."

"Oh! Ohhh! Aries, if there was an animal that doesn't belong in the forest here, would I be able to understand it?" Arachne asked quickly.

"Sure. Any animal that sets foot in the forest." Aries shrugged, and Arachne immediately got out what appeared to be a shiny silver whistle. She blew hard on it, though it didn't seem to make much of a sound. Aries questioned what it was that she was calling, and Arachne replied through excited giggles.

"Remember our dog? Mine and Verolen's? We normally don't call him much because he's such a troublemaker, but--"

"D-dog...?" Aries immediately went as white as a sheet.

((I REMEMBER THAT DOG. OH, THAT DOG. HE WAS A CERBERUS.))

Byrne stepped a bit closer to Aries, as if trying to reassure her. "I don't know, Aries, I like dogs," he said, not knowing what he was in for. He'd never met the animal before, after all. Eve looked torn between tense anticipation and excitement.
"What's his name?" she asked Arachne.

((HIS NAME WAS GUMPY OR SOMETHING ODD LIKE THAT. At least, that's what Arachne is going to call him from now on.

I REMEMBERED HIM TOO. THUS...HIS RETURN. xDD))

"This dog...has two heads." Aries trembled, suddenly standing and climbing about halfway up the tree, watching them with a frown on her face.

"Aries is afraid of dogs," Arachne scratched the back of her neck. "I'm sorry, Aries, I forgot."

"It's fine...enjoy your time with your pet..." Aries muttered.

Arachne looked up at Eve and smiled. "Gumpy is his name. Verolen calls him something different, but he likes Gumpy and I like Gumpy, so his name is Gumpy. GUMPY!" She yelled as a howl sounded not too far off. "Here boy! C'mere!" She looked towards the treeline. The two-headed dog bowled out of the underbrush, twice the size as when she had last seen him. Which had been quite awhile, indeed. The dog practically tackled Arachne, both of its head covering her in licks.

"Arachne, Arachne, Arachne!" One head barked.

"Lady, lady, lady," The other yipped happily.

"Good dogs!" Arachne laughed, squealing with excitement.

((This dog is so cute.))

Byrne fell back as the dog came bounding into view - obviously this was not what he had expected. "Woah. Woah, that thing is huge!" he said, mostly to himself. He started slowing backing away, trying not to call attention to himself as he made to join Aries in the tree. He would take his chances with the hawk.

Eve, on the other hand, seemed pleasently suprised. "A Cerberus!" she said, smiling as she looked over Arachne's dog. "It's been a long while since I've seen one of these!"

((Heehee~))

"BLIMEY, you folks be nutcases," The hawk squawked noisily, abandoning his half-built nest and flying off before the dog could see him.

"Who's this?" One head looked up,

"Strange smell!" The other one started growling.

"Gumpy, Lumpy, this is Eve." Arachne stood and brushed herself off.

Eve backed up a bit as one of the heads started growling at her, but managed to keep her smile. "Yep, I'm Eve," she said to the dog, holding out her arms as if presenting herself. "I'm a friend."

"Friend? You sure?" Lumpy slowly stopped growling, and the Ceberus padded forward to sniff Eve warily.

"FRIEND!" Gumpy barked and licked her hands happily, while Lumpy cautiously allowed the demon to pet her. "I like friends. Friends are nice!"

Eve smiled at the "two" of them. "Haha, I like you, too!" she said. Then, she turned to look at the tree. "Aries, Byrne, come down from there! He's so sweet!"

"NOPE." Aries denied everything, climbing a little higher in the tree. Gumpy and Lumpy looked over to where Eve was calling too; he barreled forward, putting his front paws on the tree and barking.

"Hey! Hey, come down here!" Gumpy barked.

"Bad people! I'll get them!" Lumpy howled.

"Sit!" Arachne ordered, and both heads were silenced immediately as the dog sat down and looked at her, expecting more orders. "Good dog." Arachne smiled slightly, nodding in satisfaction.

"They're not bad!" Eve was quick to call out to the Cerberus. "They're friends, too! They're just a little nervous around dogs," she said. "So be nice!"

Byrne leaned back a bit to look at the dog, then shuddered. "That thing is HUGE."

"Oh. Sorry." Lumpy blinked, tilting his head to the side.

"Friends? But why do they hide? I am nice. We are nice. Nice doggies." Gumpy whimpered. "I want to play with them!"

"Well," Arachne giggled. "They'll have to come out of that tree sooner or later..." She paused as her stomach growled.

"Arachne needs food?" Lumpy perked his ears up.

"FIND FOOD!" Gumpy ran off, tongue hanging from his mouth. They disappeared into the underbrush again, obviously to track down a meal.