[Trade] April, The Fool and Pasta??- Part 2-

Part2- The Cave and the cat. 

        -Rite of endurance-

 “This is gonna be fun!” The path to the desert where their rite will take place follows along a trail into a massive cave. Magic gems light the way from the sun hitting one and making it look like beams of light bouncing off one another. April glitches out of reality for a second as she appears a few feet ahead of the other two. “I can't believe how pretty this is. Check it out!” She walks up to one of the crystals as Fooli watches her. “And that party was WILD!! Did you see how far those girls flew!!??” 

           “April please be careful,” he says, “You have no idea what's in these caves” 

           “Oh Fooli you worry too much” she chuckles as she blinks, “Pretty.” 

           Fooli just chuckles, Linguini blinks as magma drips down his cheeks making him look like he's crying but isn't. “Fooli has some faith. She's okay,” Fooli steps deeper near April as she yet again glitches out and walks ahead, the deeper they go the happier she gets, she glitches out and into the next cavern. Humming the tune to the program they 

            “Guys! You will never guess what I found!” she glitches back as she giggles, “Someone is actually exploring the caves.” 

            The other two look at each other with raised eyebrows,Linguini’s magma glitches out and appears on a different part of his body from his eye.  “You have us lost April, we need the help” 

             “I haven't gotten us lost…i don't think…” She looks at Fooli. “Am I lost?” 

            “If you can help me find the way from this place no you are not,” a female voice calls.from infront of them. 

             “That sounded like she is above us actually,” Linguini says. “Oh cool new friend.” 

            The woman jumps down revealing several long cat tails and lion ears. Her outfit echoes desert attire with a tank top and shorts in a beige color, with a small bag on her hip and what looks like a beat-up leather jacket and an old hat, at her side is a leather whip that looks like it has seen better days. April giggles as she glitches up to the woman. “Hi im April, that's my mate, Fooli, and that's Linguini,” the other two bow their heads in a nod. “Nice to meetcha!” 

              “How curious,” she opens her bag and pulls out a book, “You seem to be a kominu subspecies,” she writes notes in her book, “You seem to be of a small stature…like a lil shetland pony,” she notes April in her book. “And you two seem to be both different as well,” she puts the book away. “I have been mapping these caverns for a bit.” 

             Fooli speaks up. “We seem to be lost, do you mind helping us in our endeavor to get out of this place?? We need to reach the desert.” 

            “I actually just came that way myself…I'm looking for the forest,” she says. “Call me Xena.” 

           “What is a kominu?” April asks Xena they walk and talk as the three look at their guide. 

          “April, she has to focus,” Linguini says to her. 

           April triumphs as Fooli nuzzles her. “Yes I know you love me.” 

           Xena guides them deeper in as she takes notes and samples of the surrounding area. “Kominu are guardians of the shrines back home, they are usually in pairs. A and Un, A is the open-mouthed one and Un is the closed-mouthed. They also both have balls clutched under their left foot.” 

           “Kinda like Q’illins?” April asks. 

           “She doesn't know what those are,” Fooli says as April glares at him. 

           “I do not think so…once i see one I will log it in my book,” she smiles, snapping it shut. “Someday maybe I will be able to make my own friend with you guys,” her tails twitch. 

          “You have ears and tails…are you some sort of beastman?” April glitches in front of her trotting backwards. 

            “April!!” Linguini growls. “That's not a nice thing to say” 

            “Oh no, it's fine. I'm a cat gender and this is how I show it” she smiles. “Back home people like me are outcasts or we have to hide what we are.” 

           Fooli tips his head in confusion. “You mean there's a world where you can't be who you are freely?” 

          She smiles as they walk. “Back in my home you must hide what you are and who you are in order to fit into society, i am actually able to pass off as normal because back home we usually have ears and tails that are removable so i say I'm playing a character” 

          April and Fooli look at her in shock, “You mean back in your home you can't at all be who you are?” she asks Xena. 

        Xena shakes her head sadly, “Nope, it's an unspoken rule that we aren't allowed,” her wrist bands have fur on the inside of them as she looks around then down in her book. “The exit should be just south of here,” she says as she guides them thru. Linguine looks at the woman. His eye magma glitching out. “That's curious” 

         “My eye magma??” he asks her, “It's what i was born with.” 

         “Quite intriguing,” she says, writing it down. 

        Fooli looks at the book. “What's that?” 

         “My fathers journal, he kept a record of all the places he went with my mother when she was living.” 

         “So it's a record?” he asks her. 

        “Yep!” They find the exit into the desert, next to them a normal horse waits, Xena walks up to it. “This is Dancer,” she pets him. “He is my Clydesdale, a type of horse.” she mounts up and smiles, “Come on, there is a rest area where you can get some food and water about two miles up ahead.” 

         All three look at their guide “2 MILES!!???” April whines as Fooli nuzzles her. 

        “It's gonna be ok.” he smiles. 

         Xena clicks her tongue as she steers her horse into the massive desert. The walls on either side close in the desert like a gem. She writes in her jornal as Linguine trots up to her, “So this creature is your mount?” 

          “Dancer isnt a “mount” he's a friend. Quite wild but allows me to use him as a mount for getting from place to place.” she smiles at him. “What are you? One of the subspecies?” he nods to her. 

          April glitches out next to him. “I'm a sprite, very small and so is Fooli, the smallest of the subspecies” she says proudly. “That's Fooli my mate. We are going on this journey to gain the ability of breeding” 

         Xena writes that in her journal. “Oh that is curious,” she says. “Can you actually be friends with a human?” 

        Fooli nods. “We are quite proud and it will take time for a human to gain our trust for riding on our backs but I do believe that with time you may be able to tame us.” 

         “Maybe even have a friend for life haha,” April smiles. 

        The horse nickers as she looks at the horizon, “Yes I agree that we need to find a respite from the heat.”

         “I'm hungry!!” April whines, “My feet hurt” Xena chuckles. 

        “Hold on my for legged friends, we are almost to the rest stop up ahead, just be careful here. In the desert the ruins can cause a lot” 

        April sees a temple up ahead. “Oh guys CHECK IT OUT!!” she glitches to the entrance. “Please can we go in?? Please!!!” 

        The other two smile. “Let's go” she happily steps in. 

         Xena gets off the horse and says a strange word to him as she sets her hand on his face, after a brief flash of light he finds a shady spot to rest. “Well let's go” 

        They walk into the temple as dust falls on them. April sneezes as she glitches. “Sorry.” 

         Xena looks at the walls. “Some sort of temple for a god?? I can't read the inscriptions.” She pulls out a charcoal stick and starts to rub the symbols on a blank page in her book. 

        April, Fooli and Linguini look around. “This isn't spooky at all NOPE!” she shivers. “Ok maybe a bit spooky,” she steps on something as she hears noises from within the temple and the door shuts behind them. “Did i do that?”  Fooli and Linguini growl at her. “Sorry,” she chuckles, “Now we are stuck here?” 

        Xena looks at them. “I can't read a lot of it but phrases repeat over and over…challenge of strength and 3 drakiri…seems like they want to test you but i can't read that part. I'll have to do more research into this…it seems to be a sort of test to see if you're strong enough to have children?? I can't make heads or tails of it. But there seems to be repeating phrases about three trials, Maturity, Endurance and Strength...not sure though.” 

        All three look at her. “What?” 

                 -continues in the next part-