Returning the gesture of providing them his entire attention, they keenly watched him point to the pack he also had fitted around his chest and the dagger he revealed to them. This reminded Tem of the butterfly knife that was hidden away in the pocket of their seemingly itchy jacket. With the person’s mention of Memphis, Tem hardly batted an eye, as the city had no relevance to them. Hardly giving any sort of response, they brought one of their hands back and rested their index finger and thumb on their chin as they became completely absorbed by thoughts. “Innnnteeeerrressstinggggg.....” they murmured, swaying their body back and forth.
Starting to piece things together, Tem came to the conclusion that the two of them had to have definitely been kidnapped somewhere to put their survival skills to the test. Certainly the last thing they remembered was having dinner with their parents before heading off to bed like any other night. Mom and Dad were just their usual selves... they couldn’t have any involvement with this..
Feeling the unusual flicker of one of their ears, Tem suddenly spun around instinctually and lifted their head up to the trees that towered over the two.
Tem was completely frozen stiff, as if they had seen a ghost. But what they were looking at where the thousands of squirrels that manifested on every limb on every tree that surrounded them and Aros.
(Ah no, the squirrels of doom. Sorry about taking so long to post this, I guess the squirrels must've sedated me. Sorry, it isn't my best but this was the only things that came to my sleep deprived mind and it's also 12:30 a.m.-- I can't see straight XD)
And I'm really guessing ze squirrels are v aggressive and therefore attacking them)
Aros frowned a bit at their lack of having provided any further details, while trying to puzzle out how they both would've ended up in the redwood forest-- He couldn't pin point a time when someone would've had the chance to drug him, and they couldn't have just... Carried him off in the dead of night lacking sedative's, at least without arousing him, right?
He opened his mouth to add something more to the conversation, but froze as Tem whirled around before going rigid. He inhaled sharply, eyes trailing gradually up to where they were looking-- Only to be greeted with the sight of thousands of furry rodents perched upon branches, their beady black eyes sealed to him and Tem.
Squirrels.
Aros whipped about in a circle, but no matter where his eyes laid upon, a rather large troop of the squirrel horde would be right there to mob everywhere his sight reached to.
His jaw went slack, turning his back to Tem's. "Perishing seems like a really great option right now, not gonna lie." He muttered to himself under his breath, eyes darting from one of the small creatures to the next.
Apparently, even quietly talking was not a good option. Or perhaps they just had a problem with sarcasm?
He became quite aware of this when one of the mobs of them, the ones from the tree closest to him and Tem, stormed straight for him; seemingly not acknowledging Tem-- Yet.
Thankfully for him, he currently was lacking a corporeal body and therefore would not acquire any vicious scratches.
However, that did not stop him from launching forwards and practically dancing back and forth in a berserk fashion as a gang of squirrels sprang in circles around him, flinging themselves at his torso and legs-- At velocities he'd never thought possible of common grey and red squirrels-- But only for them to phase through him and appear on his other side with splashes of green light, making his body start to glitch and tear, causing him to become almost see through and blotchy from green bursts, overlaid with static like that of an old television.
So, he proceeded to stop dead in his tracks, his main conscience reverting back into his actual body, his aberration simply standing there dumbly, still glitching, but serving aptly once again as a decoy.
Sucking in a deep breath, Aros surged forward from his real hiding spot in the outcropping, skidding to a halt nearby Tem and yanking his dagger from the deceased jackal's flesh-- Which, as soon as the weapon was removed, disintegrated up into a cloud of scarlet smoke; and leaving behind a foul stench of decay. He blinked, pausing at that, before straightening up and whirling around.
At least he had he dagger back in his physical hand now, and the fraction of the squirrels that were attacking were momentarily preoccupied by his fake self.
For a split second, a curiosity of what Tem would think when they realized they had been speaking to a non-corporeal illusion dawned upon them, but he immediately was wholly consumed with how to go about escaping a swarm of a seemingly infinite number of mad squirrels. "Um, Tem?"
