As flames spread around Tango, engulfing his body in their painful hold. The heat is unbearable, peeling at his skin, clothes, and hair. He can't help but shout in shock as he falls to the ground thrashing. Smoke starts to fill his lungs and fire burns his mouth. Each gasp of breath only brings in more and more flames, then ash. Pieces of ash flake off his body, then larger chunks, then entire limbs fall into piles of grey ash as he collapses into a mountain of ash and soot.
It is blissful to be separated from the painful heat. Slowly the panic and fear leave Tango's mind, letting him rest. Tango opens his eyes slowly as a warm feeling surrounds him, pulling his mind closer to life again. He wakes up covered in ash. A bit taken aback he shakes his head to clear the ash off and attempts to stand back up. Feathers now cover his body and the smaller size disorielents him greatly. Squawking in surprise he hops up onto unsteady legs and promptly falls back down.
As the others mill about the shopping district, trying to get a feel for their new forms although most were still laying on the ground, Tango flaps his wings shaking off the extra ash that clings to his body. He looks around to his friends, noticing some of the others struggling with their movement, stumbling over paws and extra limbs. His eyes land on a small brown parrot-like bird sitting on the shoulder of Mumbo. Grian, he deduces, is trying to snuggle close to the robot, chirping incessantly, flapping his wings, doing anything to gain the attention of the robot. Grian was growing more and more anxious over the lack of Mumbo's attention before stopping in an instant when he realized the Robot had shut down. Drawing his wings close to his body, he silences himself. Tango looked closer, finding his eyesight had nearly doubled to what it had been, only to see Grian start to shiver and ruffle his feather to keep some warmth.
Suddenly something worms its way into his chest; he doesn't like seeing his friend cold. With newfound determination, Tango marches his way to the feet of Mumbo. Once at the feet of the robot, he saw just how much taller Mumbo is compared to him but that made little difference to Tango. He flaps his wings to bring himself up to Mumbo's eye level before landing on his shoulder the side opposite of Grian.
Carefully he coos and chirps to get the small brown parrots attention; he's not sure he could even talk to him so he sticks with bird sounds. Grian lifts his head to a far larger bird towering over him and shrinks in on himself, overcome with a sudden fear of the hawk-like bird. Again Tango coos as softly as he could, trying to seem less imposing. He flutters down to the ground and turns to look back at Grian. The brown bird shifts back and forth on his feet glancing between a dormant Mumbo, and Tango on the ground beckoning him to come down.
'What do I do?' He thinks to himself, 'What do I do?' Tango continues to coo and chirp to him hoping he'll look over and snap out of his stupor,
"Please Grian, listen to me," Tango chirps, finding his voice and tucking his wings in. Grian nods and is slowly convinced to hop down.
After a few moments of talking, Grian leaps off of Mumbo's shoulder. He flutters down in a mess of feathers, lacking any of his usual glace, and lands next to Tango in a heap of dirt. Quickly Grian picks himself up and shakes what little dirt he can lose from his feathers before ultimately giving up with a frustrated huff. Tango lets a squawk of amusement leave his beak before leaning down to the little bird and starts to help clean the dust from Grian's feathers.
Grian starts to lean into the preening, content that the dirt is being removed from his body, and the warmth Tango gives off brings him closer to the phoenix. In a matter of minutes, any dirt stuck to his feather has been deftly removed by Tango's preening.
Once Tango finishes his work and double-checks to make sure that the younger bird is clean, he glances around at the remaining hermits in the area, all of them dealing with their transformations with varying degrees of success, when his eyes land on the tree that hosts Stress' potion shop. Yet again a strange feeling grows in his chest and he finds the need to get Grian over to the tree, to make sure he's safe. He quickly grabs the attention of the small bird and motions over to the tree with his beak. Grian looks at the tree, then back at Tango, then back to the tree, seemingly unsure if he understood the phoenix. His fears resolve themselves when Tango starts to flap his wings and raises a few feet off the ground, waiting for Grian to join him.
Grian slowly opens his wings then looks back to Tango.
"Come on, you're the best flyer on the server. You can do this," Tango encourages.
Confidence floods Grian's chest and with familiar strength, he pushes himself off the ground. Tango squawks in excitement as Grian lifts off from the ground and comes to hover as best he can next to Tango.
He starts to fly towards the tree, slowing his pace to let Grian remain near him with little effort on the small parrot's side. The twisted branches of the potion shop come into view as Grian gains more confidence with his wings, flying all around Tango in sweeping glides and quick turns.
Tango quickly pulls up to land on one of the larger branches of the tree while in the meantime, Grian remains in the sky. Tango starts to look around the tree, trying to find something, but not really knowing why. Then he spots it, a nook created by interlocking branches and protected from the elements by the thick canopy of the tree close to the trunk.
He walks down the branch, picking up sticks and other plant matter. Carefully he starts to weave together sticks, twigs, and any other type of foliage into a simple nest.
After he finishes the nest, he gathers soft moss and grass from around the tree adding to the inside to create a bed. As Tango works in the soft bedding into the nest he notices some of his feathers fall from their place. At first, he just adds them to the bedding. Tango sees a few feathers trail after Grian with every sharp turn the parrot takes, reminding him that both of them were in molt before the meteor transformed them.
Finishing the nest Tango calls for Grian, "Grian come over here," he calls out, watching the little bird dash about the tree and sky. Grian flits about until he hears Tango call out for him. He swoops by the tree and spots the phoenix by the truck and comes in for a landing perched just above the nest Tango has created. Grian hops around looking at the nest then back to Tango who sat just outside of it looking expectantly at the young bird.
"You made a nest?" Grian questions looking at the sculpted mass of sticks and bedding. "Why?"
Tango shrugs as best he can, "I just had the feeling."
Grian hops down closer to Tango before going over to inspect the nest. It looks stable and the bedding does look very soft. Carefully Grian hops up to the side of the nest before completely descending into the body. He plops down in a warm spot.
Tango looks very pleased with himself, puffing out his chest in pride. Grian lifts a wing to hide his face in embarrassment as Tango joins him in the nest. Tango tucks his wings to his sides, encasing Grian in one of them. The warmth giving off by the phoenix lulls Grian closer to Tango till he is snuggled closely to the side of the phoenix. Comfort envelopes him, then is promptly shattered by Tango's beak pecking at him.
"What are you doing?" Grian demands indignantly.
"We're both in molt and I have already taken care of my feathers," Tango replies, straightening some of his missed-placed feathers.
"I can do it myself, you know. I don't need your help," Grian squawks, trying to tidy his tail feathers himself.
"You and I both know that you have the self-care skills of a potato, so shush and let me finish," Tango mutters, as he picks through his feathers.
Grian puffed his feather out in annoyance, "Well, you aren't any better than I am, Mr. Tek."
"Hush, child," he coos sarcastically.
"Child?" Grain grumbles, "I am not a child."
"Compared to some you are, now stop squirming," Tango says, finishing his preening of the small brown parrot.
Slowly Grian's eyes feel heavy and his breathing begins to drop to a measured pace, the feeling of being warm and safely tucked next to his friend pulls him close to sleep. The exhaustion of the day crashes into him and he falls unconscious.
Tango feels Grian's descent into sleep and can tell he will be following the other close behind. Sleep claims him from the chaos of the day as he wraps the parrot in a protective embrace.
..............
Zedaph, unsure of what to do now that Tango has gone with Grian and Impulse is helping Mumbo get back online and functional, he starts making his way towards Beef. His legs are unsteady though and he ends up stumbling right into Ren after only a couple of steps.
The wolf looks up and barks happily giving Zedaph a prod with his nose, nudging him to a more stable standing position. A primal part of Zedaph quivers looking into the eye of the werewolf, but the gleam of joy and warmth in the brown eyes removes any fear threatening to settle in his bones.
"You alright, my dude?" Ren asks as he walks over wagging his tail excitedly.
"Oh," Zedaph starts with a huff and looking rather grumpy, "I am doing just dandy right now. I woke up this morning expecting to be turned into a full sheep."
Ren barks out a laugh and flops down next to the peeved sheep in a lump of brown fur. "Can't be all bad, can it."
Zedaph turns away in an exacerbated stomp only to stumble over his newly acquired front hooves and lands on the mycelium caked ground, "Yes, yes it is."
Ren rises again and trots over to the ram still lying on the ground. Carefully he pulls Zed to his feet.
"Thanks," Zed says, continuing on his path towards Beef, leaning heavily on Ren.
"Any day, my dude," Ren replies, trailing after the ram. Beef is having a much easier time walking compared to Zedaph, as he already had the leg work figured out. Beef's ears flick towards the pair as they approach the steer.
"Hey guys," Beef greets them in an exhausted groan.
"Transformation took a lot of you, huh," Ren asks
"I feel like I was hit by a truck," Beef replies dully.
"Yeah, transformation can really eat up your energy. How hungry are you guys?" Ren asks.
Both Zedaph and Beef took a moment to think, then their stomachs replied for them.
"Very, now that I think about it," Beef says as he stands up and shakes his tail gently.
"That's what I thought." Ren begins to start nudging the pair towards the shops, "Transformation tends to leave your body needing food after spending so much energy. Like for me when I need to transform, the first half-hour is just getting my energy back but then I am ready to go all night long." Ren continues to usher the duo down the store lined streets as he talks.
Sometimes Beef would start to drift away from the group only to be brought back by Ren flanking him, still continuing his story. Zed notices then slows his pace only to be nudged by Ren to stay with Beef.
Beef and Zed look at each other then back to the werewolf and share a smile.
"Hey Ren," Zed speaks up.
"Yes?" Ren
"You're herding us," Beef laughs out. They both look back to the werewolf to find a flustered Ren lying on the ground, his front legs crossed over his head.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know I was doing anything," Ren squeaks.
Zeb and Beef laugh at their friend's mild embarrassment.
"You're fine, Ren. It's just funny." Zedaph chuckles. "Where were you taking us anyways?"
Ren peeks from out behind his paws, "I was thinking that we could get you some food from the barge?"
"Actually, I think Doc's shop sells fruit." Beef suggests.
"Oh," Ren perks up, "Let's head there then." Ren jumps up and takes off down the road and around the corner, tail wagging frantically. The pair follow behind as fast as their limbs allow. The Five Goats comes into view with a very energetic wolf running around the shop front as they turn the corner.
Ren happily sits with them as they retrieve a variety of fruit and vegetables. He talks with them throughout, loosely chatting at any given topic. The group continues to talk until Cleo is sent to retrieve them.
"We should stay together through the night just in case the meteor gets any bright ideas," She explains, leading the way back to a temporary camp set up for the hermits.
Nightfall approaches quickly as hermits are starting to bed down for the night. Zedaph breaks off to go sleep near Impulse while Beef does the same with Etho and the rest of the NHO. Ren finds a patch of soft mycelium and circles it a few times clearing it of any rocks or debris before settling onto the ground. It's not the first time Ren has fallen asleep under the moon, but if he's being honest with himself, he thinks, he has never been more peaceful then when he's surrounded by friends.