glowbug & solanum | literally_hannibal

A gray coat, ruffled and unkempt, warily stepped into the next room. Soreness had settled quickly into their body after a battle with a surprisingly sturdy door— it was a battle Bug had nearly lost. Curly ginger-and-white fur whizzed past them, but they were too worn out to care.

The fringe in their face was blown out of the way, brown eyes surveying the... empty room. Only one thing stood in there besides them, and it wasn't interesting enough to be worth brute-forcing their way in. A dejected sigh escaped the courser's mouth, stepping forward with rustling bags that sounded too empty, and would remain that way.

"You said there'd be treasure," Glowbug had mumbled to the Puck, one whose name stood clear in their mind after having to rescue him from a delightfully firey part of the dungeon — Solanum. Bug didn't often pick up company, always considered a bit too strange or unfocused or clumsy for most company. The Fae-horse didn't appear to be bothered by any of that, or he just cared too much about himself to be bothered about what Bug was doing. Two was company, and... four made a fairly sizeable party. They'd attracted another pair on the way, Dallas and Vere. They were still uncertain about the two, but they were happy about the extra brawn.

When the mirror was turned to face them, Glowbug stayed back. It wasn't that they had some strange feeling about it; unfortunately, it was just because they were not interested. There ears only perked to listen to the awed sounds of their party.

One from their party, at least.

-

Solanum had wasted no time squeezing past the busted-down door, tail swaying happily. Even despite the room being near empty, the Puck seemed intrigued. He paced the perimeter, scrounging around for anything else before his green eyes finally settled on the upturned mirror.

"Come see this," He encouraged the others, trotting closer. The fiery little bat on his back clung to his curly mane, chittering curiously in his ear. With two pairs of eyes settled on the mirror in front of them, Solanum let the dragonbat crawl up onto his brow. It sniffed at the object, then reeled back, scuttling away to burrow itself into his fluff. Sol wasn't discouraged. "Who wants to move it?"

One way or another, the object of his desire was finally turned the right way. He stepped up to peer into it, and an awed sigh escaped him; peering back at him was him, but brighter, and covered in riches. Jewelry adorned him, tied into his fur and perched against his brow and between his ears. Delicate chains hung in gold around his neck, decorated with all sorts of charms. His eyes were bright, but there was something... missing. Not that Sol noticed, or cared.

He felt himself being drawn closer. A pull told him to stay close, to not look away. Strangely, Sol did sense that something was off, paired with the reaction of his recent friend. Unfortunately, even that didn't pull him out of his preening.

-

vere & dallas | MiniToffs

The last time Vere had gone on a mission with a group, it hadn't ended well. They all kinda squabbled, and mostly did things on their own, even though they were in a group. It was a good experience, but not the best. She was still thankful to the previous horses for letting her come with them however.

This time she tried to be a little more open, having been quiet almost all the time until the last minute in her last party hadn't helped much. So she bit the bullet and tried to push her insecurity aside and tried to mingle more. So far it has worked. She had found a buddy to come with her before she met Glowbug and Solanum, Dallas. She liked the mare so far, it seemed they had much in common. And before they knew it, they had found two other adventurers who also wanted to create a party.

And so here they where, the four of them. So far it had gone better she supposed. It had dampened her spirits a little when the chamber they found didn't budge. Only lighting up once it actually opened. Solanum was the first to squeeze through the entrance, and the other soon followed. The room looked strangely empty, which didn't sit right with Vere. Remembering her last adventure, she immediately went looking for things that looked like traps, but she found nothing so far. And then Solanum said something. She looked up from her corner to see something facing the wall.

"I'll help" Vere had called out and trotted over to do so. Once the mirror was turned they all stood in front of it, staring at it. At first Vere wasn't sure what she saw in the mirror. She looked at the others through the reflection but they all looked the same to her. She frowned in confusion. Maybe she needed to look closer. On closer inspection she noticed that her own fur was a little more rugged, and her stance seemed maybe... a little more bold, more self-assured? Huh, was that how she was standing? She looked down at her own hooves and then back at the mirror's reflection, but her pose felt and looked different from what she saw in the reflection. Odd.

-

Dallas had entered the darkness confidently, maybe a little nervous though as she didn't know the horses she was with all that well. She met a red dun mare a little before she met the grullo dun and Tan and white Fae blessed courser. They seemed like a nice bunch. But it'll be fine. Even if the last group she went with returned wounded, they returned alive. SHe did prefer going alone often into the dungeons, but once in a while it was a necessary evil to go with others, as she knew bigger numbers meant more safety. And not all places were traversable alone.

It took them all a while to find something worthwhile, and then it took another while to actually get into it, but once they did they found an odd, dusty old room. One of the others mentioned something about another knowing about treasure, but they sounded disappointed. Honestly Dallas didn't blame them. She had hoped for it too. Was it really just a mirror? Some of the others had been talking about moving it. "I'll try too.." She spoke up. It took quite some maneuvering and comments about taking it slow to get the mirror into a position so that they could look at it properly.

Now that she stood in front of it, it looked like her appearance was very different. She looked bigger, and more weathered, covered in interesting scars and a bunch of interesting loot was bunched into worn travel bags, which looked like they had quite some stories behind him. "huh" She mumbled. "Do yall see anything weird in the mirror?" She asked without looking away from it. She wanted to know what they saw, without seeming weird if they didnt see anything, so instead she tried to ask as if nothing too strange was going on.