The start of the turmoil, and the band of doubters

[~{KiaOfTheSand}~]

Bain sat against the outward side of his village's rock wall, the sharp, canine-teeth-like rocks curving outwards, serving as a barrier to all but flighted beings and Helldemons. Beside him, Xee lay with his legs folded beneath him, currently tearing apart a plump rabbit. Bain looked at the distant green forest and sighed. All this turmoil lately was wearing him out. He didn't want anything to do with it. And he was a tad worried that his father might do something foolish and declare war against the
Pegasus and Takana. They couldn't possibly take on both at once, and besides, they had no proof of anything. And then again, there were the skulldemons...
"But they haven't been seen for years. Maybe they've all died out by now." He spoke aloud. Xee lifted his head a fraction from his meal and then lowered it, cracking open a leg bone noisily. Bain sighed andwent to stand up- then froze, eyes raking over the nearby rocks. Did he see a flash of white amongst the gray, or was it his imagination, a trick of his eyes? Xee, seeing his tense stance, left his empty carcase(1) and stood, hooves scraping against the hardened rock. Bain laid a hand on his neck and walked forward, employing tricks one learned while stalking prey in the rocky plains, staying silent and undetectable. He slowly crept around one of the jagged rocks sticking out of the ground like a claw, and looked around it. Nothing. He sighed a breath of relief and turned away, Xee losing his battle-ready stance and walking back to his rabbit, plucking an eye as he lay down once again. Bain rolled his eyes and once again took up his position beside his Helldemon.

(1)Spelling? ^_^;
Well, looks like Bain got a glimpse of one of Kani's adventures into Darkangel territory. But he doesn't know anything yet. Soon enough, though, soon enough. She'll come right back around if she glimpses a Skulldemon. ^_^

[ϟShadowϟ]

The light clacking sound that ensued when bone met bone was the unsettling sound that announced his presence. Seeing as Cyril's favorite pastime was observing the other species, he had of course developed what he would call a fairly good ability to move about unnoticed. And so, the noise he made when he moved into view was entirely purposeful, as he meant to be noticed. Wings of seemingly flightless bone stretched out and flapped easily holding up the skulldemon's bony body. Tilting his head to the side, with another audible clack, he spoke in the monotone that was characteristic of his people. "I would think that comment should annoy me, 'We would never die out that easily,' is something like what I believe I should defend myself with. Forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm not as well practiced in your caring ways as I might like." A smirk gave expression to his fleshless skull as he finished, amused. That was in a sense though, for most of the time Cyril expressed what he believed he should feel rather than what he actually felt.

The only cloth that covered his empty skeletal figure was a dark gray cloth wrapped around the pelvic bone. It was held in place by the upper skull of a fruit bat and displayed a bit of the skulldemon's knack for decorative bones. Cyril too, had noticed the glimpse of white that had passed through the rocks delicately. That was one of the important points as to why he made him notable, for he knew there was another here besides this darkangel and his mount. He figured that maybe his appearance would interest the other into making theirs. Another reason he announced himself was because he thought it would be amusing too, as the darkangel certainly didn't expect anything like him. The final reason, was the underlying reason behind pretty much everything Cyril Fletch ever did: he was outright bored. A better way to amuse himself, he currently could not see.

(( It would be 'carcass' ^^ ))

[~{KiaOfTheSand}~]

Bain jumped, startled, head whipping around to focus on the new figure. He scrambled back, tense, for a moment, before standing a staring at the Skulldemon suspiciously.
"Who're you?" He demanded, eyes flickering to his mount to see his reaction. Xee ignored him and examined the skin of his meal for any remaining traces of meat. Bain mentally rolled his eyes at him, annoyed. For one who'd been just as attentative as him a moment ago for a mere trick of the eyes, he didn't care about a possible enemy in their presence? Great.

Kani stilled, poised behind a concave rock where she'd been preparing her getaway. That wasn't- it couldn't be... She fought with the urge to peek for few moments before losing the battle with her curiosity and looking around the edge of the rock. It was! A Skulldemon! She stared, interested, at the new person. She once again battle with her curisoity, this time for whether or not to reveal herself. And once again, she lost. Kani slid around the rock and walked towards the two, wings half-poised cautiously, golden dress swinging around her legs, bound by the ties that held it in place but allowed movement- the trick to the reason they wore them while flying.
"Hello." She chirped, cocking her head to the side and staring at the Skulldemon curiously.

(( Thanks. Stupid spellcheck had me stumped. Kani's rather rude, aint she? XD))

[ϟShadowϟ]

The smirk remained as the darkangel reacted to him, startled of course, and plenty amusing at that. Before he had bothered to giving his name to the other male, the being of white came into sight as Cyril had predicted. She was a Pegasus, as was anticipated by her ivory aura. Without any hesitation, she stared directly at him and greeted him. In lacking hesitation she also lacked manners in that sense, but Cyril hardly cared. What manners did skulldemons have besides what they picked up from the other species?

Landing gently on the rock below where he had been hovering, he gave a bow, mocking really but it wasn't very obvious, and answered the both of them together. "Good day, I am Cyril Fletch- as if that tells you anything about who I am. And you are?" He mostly found it a stupid question when people would ask 'who are you' since he knew they wouldn't recognize his name and thus his name did not tell who he was. But either way, it mattered little, as he most likely wouldn't recognize their names either. Besides gender and species differences, practically all darkangels, takana, and pegasus were the same to him. It was the interesting matters that the beings of flesh concocted and got themselves into that amused him.

(( Lol, no problem. x3 And yes, a bit. xD ))

[~{KiaOfTheSand}~]

Bain frowned and nudged Xee with his foot, prompting his mount to stand, having now lost interest in the stripped corpse. He debated whether to stay or leave, but the newest addition to this converstaion was very interesting... And this was the most exciting thing that had happened for weeks. After a slight hesitation, he introduced himself.
"I am Bain Orrostalk, son of the Darkangel leader, unfortunate candidate for leadership." He sighed.
He felt a tad embarrassed that the Skulldemon had heard his comment, but fought to not show it, though he had the unfortunate curse of blushing easily and brightly, which was no doubt coming into effect now.

Kani turned her attention to the Darkangel when he spoke, and puzzled briefly over his words. Unfortunate candidate? Her wings rustled and settled against her back with the introductions.
"Kani Andn." She greeted. "Were you continuing a thought earlier? You began your sentance with 'but'."

Bain blinked, surprised.
"Oh, yeah... It's nothing. It's just with the activity lately and stuff, I didn't think it was likely The Takana and your kind were behind everything..." He mumbled, cheeks warming further. He shuffled and fingered the edge of his wrap.

[ϟShadowϟ]

Cyril's smirk grew at the Darkangel, Bain's embarrassment. Hearing a mention of the mysterious murders, his interest was piqued all over again. "About those three turning up dead right?" the Skulldemon had heard about it more times than he cared to count and it seemed to be all any of the three kinds could talk about. Not that he blamed them for it, it was insanely interesting and if it wasn't for his people not caring about anything, they'd be fascinated by it too. "Pardon if my take on it's out of line, but it certainly isn't something organized by the whole of any of the species. If it were, one would be omitted, and the only ones not yet attacked are the Skulldemons and as you said yourself," here he looked to Bain, "we haven't even been around. Besides, we'd have no reason to since as a whole my people don't care about anything." Cyril shrugged and laughed a little at this, despite how he was very little different from the general of Skulldemons he still took interest in some things and had no qualms with insulting the faults of his enemies let alone his comrades.

Continuing his train of speech he finished, "Most likely the culprit is either an individual or a small group trying to stir up tensions and trouble or to prove some point or such. Or at least, that's what I've come up with," Cyril shrugged, that much was pretty obvious to him. He didn't see why the leaders and the majority of each race thought it was the others out to get them. It made him almost glad his people didn't give a crap about anything, it was a much less bothersome life. Wings folding back in on themselves to his back he looked to Kani and Bain for their responses, almost bored again by the ending of his little monologue.

[~{KiaOfTheSand}~]

Kani blinked at the Skulldemon and nodded slowly.
"Everyone except for your kind has had one killed? Hmm. Yes, it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Why kill only one? Not that that's a bad thing-" She added, frowning as she thought of the girl that had been killed, "but it is rather odd."

Bain looked from Cyril to Kani, wheels turning. He stored the Skulldemon's words about about his race away for further thought later on, then focused on the more pressing matter. What they said made sense. And there were plenty of places to hide even a large organization away from prying eyes, let alone a small one or individual.
"If we could find whatever has been doing this, before tensions build to a breaking point or they act again, we may be able to solve the situation. Hopefully peacefully as well. Before a war breaks out and more people get killed." he fretted, starting to get worked up.

Kani fought to keep down an amused smile. This was a serious matter, and what he said was true... but the way he was getting all worried... She glanced at Cyril to see his reaction to Bain's seriousness.

[ϟShadowϟ]

Cyril nodded in agreement with Kani, it was odd. He blinked at Bain's concern, the Skulldemon wasn't used to seeing anyone care about anything enough to get worried like that. He'd like to find out the culprit, but only because he was curious, not because he wanted to bring them to justice and prevent others from being hurt. When he was younger, he would've found such a display of a strong emotion to be downright fascinating. But as we age we tend to lose that childhood simple interest in the things that are new to you, and the way Skulldemons were raised made that even more so. Because of that, he plaintively ignored the back-of-his-mind interest he held in such emotes.

Looking between the Pegasus and Darkangel he voiced, "I don't know about averting wars, but I was planning on looking into this to discern the culprit anyway. And besides, three heads are better than one, or so they say." As he spoke, the inflection in his voice was practically the opposite of Bain's seriousness, and the sad part of that was that he would still hardly care if it was his own race that was involved. Reminding himself of the nature of criminals, especially ones that had murdered already, he noted that in trying to sniff them out they could get into some trouble. "Just know that its bloody likely that this could get dangerous, murderers don't quite like being caught," Cyril added as a side note, he hardly cared for his well-being but he knew the fleshy species generally did.