~The road less traveled~

[HopefulMonster]

One day, while out for a trip with your Wyrms, you decide to take a way you have not traveled before. Whether it's a slightly different route to the grocery store, a new path in the local park you normally don't take, or a slightly less well worn trail in the woods while hiking, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that at some point along your trip, something on the ground happens to catch your eye. When you lean down to get a closer look, you see its a smooth, well worn pebble with odd markings. Something compels you to pick up the small stone, and when you do, the world around you becomes a swirling blur and you find yourself and your Wyrms somewhere completely different.
As you blink in confusion, your surrounding suddenly come into focus. You are in a lush forest, standing on a short path scattered with flower petals. At the end of the path is the most enormous rhododendron you've ever seen, many times your height. A few steps brings you close enough to see through a small gap in the leaves and flowers under the towering giant. Brushing a thickly flowered branch out of the way you just manage to squeeze into the hidden hollow among the massive plant's twisting root system. Once your eyes adjust to the dim light, you do a double take. There.  Set into a twisting coil of roots is a small, round wooden door with an ornate metal ring in the center.Torn between excitement and apprehension, and loudly encouraged by your Wyrms, you reach out for the ring and slowly open the door. Further defying all reasonable logic, the doorway leads to what looks like a small clearing in a beautiful garden, surrounded by large standing stones. Sitting by a clear pond at the base of a trickling waterfall is a Teacup Wyrm with rich brown fur, fluffy cheeks, and small pointed cats ears. Its mouth opens, and unlike the squeaking and meeping you've grown used to hearing from your Wyrms, you can understand every word the feline Wyrm speaks. The gruff male voice sounds pleasantly surprised as he squiggles over to you.

"Ha! Was wondering when you would finally find your way here. M'name's Charles Gladeborn Cyfarwydd, but most folks just call me Chuck. I'm the Lorekeeper for our kind. You've.....probably got some questions."
He gives a very feline smirk and nods his head to you all.
"Why don't you make yourselves comfortable? I got a feeling this is gonna take a while....."





****And thus opens the doorway to the Lorekeeper section of our forums! For those Handlers so inclined, this is the opportunity to glean information about Wyrms, their history, and potentially their future. There are just a few rules.****

1) Any and all questions must be asked in the form of RP. Don't write novels, but understand that just typing out a list of questions isn't going to get you answers. Put some effort into it.

2) For the purposes of this section of chat, anyone talking is assumed to have come through the doorway. You can all see each other, and interact. Any fighting, be it by wyrms or their humans, will result in the offenders being immediately shunted back to their location before picking up the pebble, which will not work as a gate key for 1 moon cycle.

3) No time passes in the physical world while in the Lorekeeper Glade. When you step back out that door, you go back to wherever you were before.

4) Remember that I am 1 person. I will respond when I can. Any information learned through Chuck should be considered canon. Certain information will not be available. If you piss him off, Chuck will clam up and ignore you as only a cat can.

5) Your Glade keys (the pebbles) have limited power. The more often and longer you use them, the longer they will need to 'recharge'. Giving the key to your Wyrms for safekeeping is a good way to recharge them, as the Wyrm's nature energy will power up the key again. But be warned, overuse will cause the keys to fade out entirely until they are no more than an ordinary stone.

6) Do not spam. Do not spam. Do. Not. Spam.
RPing with questions is appropriate. Bumping the topic with 'oh wow, cool!' Is just going to get your post deleted without warning. Keep it on topic.

7) Have fun! This is meant to be an interactive way to allow y'all to ask questions and learn more about the crazy, fluffy creatures you are now the caretaker of. Enjoy it!

[Gardentoaster]

"What an odd yet fascinating place...Chuck." I pause as I reach out and touch the surrounding flora with a delicate touch. The pebble brought me to this wonderful world and I just had so many questions for this adorable creature. I step forward in the seemingly empty clearing by the waterfall and gasp as a large wiggling comes up and tickles at my back. The large nudibranch, Pudge, flops on my shoulders with a pink strikehorn on top of him and he gives Chuck a simple tentacle wave to say hello.
"Well I've always had a question that burns in my heart Chuck, I hope its alright to ask." I smile a toothy grin and sit down on a wet rock, my feet slip into the water trickle and i prepare myself. Almost knowing what the question is, the pink strikehorn makes her way to the top of my head and gives a soft meep urging me to speak.
"Well Chuck...I would really like to know about these strikehorns, more specifically, how do they pick or impress their potential mates!" A faint blush spreads across my cheeks and the female on my head fluffs up as well, finding the question interesting as well as a little embarrassing.
"This is the only question I seem to have for now, I really hope I don't intrude on your kindness too much." I say sheepishly as I wiggle my toes in the clear water

[KaiNimura]

"We're lost."

"Not LOST."

"Admit it, LOST. Like that TV show where everyone is dead."

I turn around sharply, almost tripping over a combination of my own feet and overgrown roots, "Of everyone, of the ENTIRE Squirm. YOU end up being the ONLY one who speaks English and then it's kind of just in my head so everyone just thinks I've gone CRAZY." I feel like crying from frustration, or laughing because of the absurdity of it all. -SURE, TAKE THE BLUE TRAIL, YOU GREW UP HERE, YOU'VE TAKEN COUNTLESS PHOTOS HERE, YOU SHOULD KNOW THESE PATHS LIKE THE BACK OF YOUR...-

-shineyyyyyyy-

My eyes caught a stone, ignoring the rest of my squirm who are happily following behind, Flying , riding on the big flying jerk's back, or just squiggling along, some carrying tiny twigs or rocks they found and decided to keep.

This was supposed to be just another photo shoot, I got a new tripod, remote shutters, new memory card, everything cleaned up and ready for some fantastic shots. Ignoring Big Q is interesting, at least Auryn learned how to text, and Khal is learning how to type - with his face. However, the teacups of my squirm, with team work manage to operate a laptop - much to my dislike. Canceling an order for 5lbs of Neco Wafers was interesting.

However what transpired next was nothing I could have expected - much less with a growing headache due to a certain Leviathan's voice talking in my ear.

And It happened when I picked up that pebble. -Somehow, I think the squirm wanted me to take this path, just to find this. Lord Litha did have such a smirk upon his face

~

I kept quiet at first, listening in and staying hidden for a moment, but I was noticed and greeted accordingly - I recognize the voice. A certain Canadian who shall soon enough be on my sofa, bouncing up and down in excitement for a certain convention. "Fancy seeing you here, Shark butt." We do our super secret handshake, that looks as epic as it sounds.

"GT was here first, It's only proper for her question to be answered before I ask anything, I'll be over there, photos you know, It's kind of my thing." I wander away, allowing Them time to speak, it would be rude to interrupt.

Lord Litha and Amun Ra strike lovely poses worthy of their status as Royal Court, with Khal Drogo doing his best to do the same, and make his grandparents proud of him. "Hold this, and DO NOT LOSE IT."

I hand the pebble off to Big Q, for safe keeping. My Squirm is thoroughly enjoying everything, and loving of course having their photos taken. Q- however is playing with the pebble and I have to stop several times to scold him and remind him 'not a toy'.

I glance over my shoulder and smile, It's fun watching friends be happy over little things. When it's hard to find happiness yourself due to mental illness that sometimes makes things difficult for you, it does feel good to watch others smile and feel joy. However my joy is short lived by a winged snake god bumping his fat head against my shoulder.

"Dude! What?!"

"I ate the pebble."

"You.what."

"I don't have hands so I...had it in my mouth and, swallowed it?"

"You.." I stare, this isn't happening. This cannot be happening, "You. swallowed. the pebble?" He nodded his fat head up and down, his wings at his sides. "Ok but, your a snake.. you should be able to - bring it back up- RIGHT?"

He stares, as if he actually forgot that part of being a snake. He makes an awful noise...starting to bring the pebble back up. My squirm watches in horror and confusion.

"NOT HERE. GO OVER THERE BEHIND THOSE BUSHES NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT."

Big Q slithers away, closely followed by ever brave and faithful Puppy, as well as my Growlers. Rose blush returning with the pebble - having been carefully cleaned off, "Amun.. Hold onto this." He hand it off to my Prince who curls around it and squiggles off to make a pouch for it out of the nearby flora, he returns with the pebble safe in a pouch around his neck he fashioned all by himself.

I notice Chuck has squiggled over to me, "Sorry, about - HIM-. He's not.. housetrained, or behavior trained, or anything resulting in behaving well at all.' I look over at Big Q, who has taken to laying on a sunny spot in the grass wings out stretched, absorbing as much light and heat as he can, and snoring.

"Questions, you said. Yes I have a few. But one seems, to be more important then anything else. It's kind of long, so I'm sorry if it gets weird." I take a deep breathe as I sit down and look at the him, The adorable wee Lorekeeper.

"Why us?" I pause, "Let me rephrase, It's our fault, humans, that is." I pause again, trying to find the best way to word things.

"Wyrms are nature spirits, and some like him," I wave my hand over to the Aztec God sunning himself, " The embodiment of old gods, and the seasons, of magic and things greater and grander then we know. But we're destroying this world every day, we fight wars, and cause untold amounts of death, ruin, hate, and destruction in our day to day lives. We do more harm to this world then good it seems, like we're a virus, a sickness. But it's our fault, and we need to own up to that." I feel pain and frustrated for a moment, but perhaps its more shame by what I know is true, "We caused so much of this world to die, killed entire species of animals and plants. Q told me of his slumber, how he left his followers, according to legend, sleeping away the years, because he knew of and FEARED what was going to happen to his people, what DID happen to them. The death the Spanish brought to the natives of his country, who lived in peace with the nature around them - perhaps not so much with each other, But they didn't do the destruction we do today."

"I guess, how can you trust us, after everything we've done to this world. Trust us enough to live with us, to allow us to be called your handlers, be our friends. I know there is good in most people, even if the news shows me otherwise, I know there's a chance for us to fix some of what we've done."

"But, I read the science articles, and almost everything says it's beyond fixing anymore, it's almost like putting a band aid over a bullet hole. " I sigh, "Sorry, life is stressful and I try to stay positive, and it's hard sometimes. I guess my real question is."

"Why did you make yourselves known to us, why come out of hiding? In short, Why us?" I run a hand through my black and pink hair, and remove my glasses, cleaning off the lenses with a cloth that was in my faux motorcycle jacket pocket. I take a deep breathe, "Sorry if none of that made sense. and you know, Sorry we messed up the planet and everything."

[SandySchreiber]

I come into the glade just as Kai is asking her question, "Why us?"
The demon wyrm Crossroads Crowley is wrapped around my neck loosely and the Phoenix wyrm, K'Sandra rides my wrist.
In my head, Crowley indicates that I should translate his words for the humans present, tho the wyrms understand him easily, to their discomfort.

"You ask why, little human? Why we wyrms deign to show ourselves to you...put ourselves in your care....after all the harm you have caused our world?" I stumble a bit over my imitation of Crowley's English accent, trying as hard as I can to instill his sarcastic tones into my translation. "Why, just look at all the wyrms that are coming to you 'handlers'. The Infected were the first sign of what you are bringing upon yourselves....then the Bloodwings started showing up." The dark wyrm raises himself up on my shoulder and spreads his huge tattered wings proudly. "Then, of course, I came along, in my small form, to check up on everything." The wyrm smiles, showing his many teeth. "I liked what I saw. So I came to you folk in my beautiful demonic form...just to show you how much I appreciate your efforts towards ruining things in the mortal realm."

On my wrist, K'Sandra spoke up. I translated for my fellow handlers. She, at least, did not require an accent. "Demon, for every tainted wyrm sent to the mortal world, there are so many more pure Nature spirits squirming their way there. There is sickness and evil, but there is always the hope for renewal, for healing. I believe that is why we wyrms show ourselves. We help to heal hearts...and the human heart is where change starts." The Phoenix fluffs her warm wings and settles herself upon my wrist again. She is not at all frightened by Crowley and his boasts.

"More and more dark wyrms are coming into the world, little birdie" scoffs the demon. "There soon won't be enough left of Nature to create more 'pure' wyrms to cancel them out!"

I think for a minute....not enough left of Nature...."But, there is more and more technology. Are the Tesla wyrms and the Chain wyrms a part of Nature asserting herself through our technology? They have spirits, but they are machines too, something Man-made. Are they a part of a greater plan...one that might put us all on the right path?"

I look at the feline wyrm in the beautiful glade, hoping that his answer may be one of hope for the future.

[Yearofdragon]

I start to make a quiet confused screeching noise as I suddenly show up in a grotto that I've never seen before. I was just on my way to taking the nudibranches down to the beach for our weekly trip, this'll certainly teach me to think twice about picking up strange pebbles. Speaking of which, I glance down at the stone that brought me here, I begin investigating it before a sharp wibbling interrupts me. Ishimaru had been the supervisor on our beach visit and he had found a comfortable spot around my neck to get a vantage point over all the teacups, now he had decided that he wanted to get a look at this marked pebble. "Alright, alright, cool your jets! Here, you can look at it too!" I hand the stone over to the blessed nudibranch and he wraps it tightly in his tentacles. Welp, looks like I'm not getting that back, My own pebble confiscated by my own wyrm. For being one of the blessed wyrms, Ishi certainly didn't get any personality traits from Q.

As I give my pebble to the strict nudi around my neck, I hear familiar voices coming from behind a wall of bushes in front of me. I cautiously reach into the foliage and pull myself through them, more confused as I was a few minutes ago. As I glance around, I realized: hey, I know these people! It was slightly more assuring to know that I wasn't the only one here. I hesitantly walk over towards the group of handlers, settling between GT and Kai. The rest of the nudibranches in my squirm wiggle out of every part of my hoodie, squeaking wibbled greetings at the handlers standing next to me.

I jump a little bit at a voice I don't recognize, frantically looking around for its source. My eyes finally make their way down to a small feline wyrm and I listen closely as he introduces himself and explains why we are all here. A few of the other handlers ask questions before I finally speak up, "Alright, so Chuck... Big Q can bless wyrms, case in point the nudibranch around my neck" I pause to gesture towards the blessed nudibranch who was still tightly gripping the smooth pebble in his tentacles, " do they get anything special from being blessed? Besides their appearance?"

[ShadraAvro]

A black jaguar arrived in the glade, her steps almost dance-like with such fluidity that the wyrms nestled on her shoulders hardly shifted. She took a nervous look around. It was so very much like her home in the forest. Yet far stranger. A broad and toothy smile came to her lips as she recognized those gathered here already. She heard the tail end of K'Sandra and Crowley's bickering and sighed.

"Sounds like your squirm must be as interesting to live with as mine, Sandy," she commented as she took a cross-legged seated position on the ground by GT.

She pulled back the long flowing black locks of her un-tamable hair and took a small collection of wyrms from her shoulders. Mara, Moroi, Azulon, Mabel, and Dipper. She set them all in her lap with a hissed 'behave' to the nightmare twins. She slipped the pebble to Azulon for safekeeping. She knew of all her squirm he was the one she could always depend on.

She pet the gem hunter's head affectionately. "I am sure there will be more good than darkness. We may have more sinister wyrms lurking but the number of pure ones far outweighs those who are not. And you cannot have balance without -some- darkness. But think of this dear Crowley, there is an angel who does the opposite of you. There are blessings for every curse. There are pushes and pulls. There are fairies both good and bad, elementals, even gods. Forces far greater than just humans or humanoid creatures. Try as you might, the balance pendulum will swing."

The jaguar stretched a little. "As for my own curiosities... I would like to know just how my little nightmares fit into the fray. The genetic infection of pitch black didn't show up until my dear Asana contracted it. Where does it come from? I know it is nightmare sand but that's about it. And why does it overcome some wyrms more than others? Kristalli's face is almost entirely swirls while Asana has one on each part of her face. But Snow has only one blotch that lacks the swirliness of before. And if many nightmares show up in one season...what happens then? Will it mean an increase in wild wyrms with pitch black in the regions where the infected nightmares live? Like a nightmare growler boom makes more growlers carrying pitch black?"

[HopefulMonster]

Chuck seemed to settle himself on a soft patch of moss in front of the assembled Handlers. Giving you all a big grin, he began to speak.

"Inquisitive bunch, aren't ya? Alright then. Let's start with the easy ones first."

He turned to address GT.
"Ever notice that your girl there has sharp, stabby points to that snoot accessory she's sporting? That's because among the Strikes, mating season is one big Sadie Hawkins shindig. The males floof up, show off their colors, and spar with each other to prove their worthiness. But its a crucible sort of deal. Even once they've scared off rival males, the only way they get the gal is to take her on in horn on horn combat. And trust me, you do NOT wanna be on the business end of those points! If the male Strike proves he's got the fluff to hold his own during the sparring, the female will let him know she accepts him. If not, he's gonna be nursing a lot worse than bruised pride when his intended sends him packing."

Turning to Year, he grins.
Well the Aztec Blessed are a special bunch for sure. First off, they spawned from this big lunkhead's power." He nods his head to Big Q, who stops what he's doing long enough to stick his tongue out at the feline and look like he's considering hefting a chunk of pond mud at the much smaller Wyrm. Chuck merely raises a furry brow and looks the Leviathan in the eye. His tone is mild as he says calmly, "Respect your elders, boy." The huge Wyrm abruptly busies himself elsewhere as the cat continues.
"Aside from the obvious physical differences, the Blessed have a natural affinity to the jungle that was Q's home. Its less a conscious thing and more just an ambient effect for the most part. But concentrating can bring it out a bit. I think you'll find any tropical plants in your home have been growing unusually well, regardless of their normal growing seasons. That's your new friend's doing. I'd suggest having multiple larger pots on hand for transplanting. Yer gonna need em'.

The tiny feline turns to address Kaj and Sandy next, his face serious. He sighs.
" You're both right, in a way. This is a harder question, because the answer hasn't really happened....yet." He takes a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing. "Yes Kai. Humans have done some truly monstrous things, both to our home, our fellow creatures, and even to each other. Greed, hatred, envy, violence. Its all come together into a whirlwind of destruction that's wrought some catastrophic changes to our world." He smiles at the Phoenix and her human companion. "But are you familiar with the story of Pandora? When all the darkness came swirling out to infect the world, what was left in the box, kept safe and untouched by the darkness around it? That is your answer. That is the light that led the Wyrms that are your companions to you. Its why they came to you, found you specifically to be their guardian, caretakers, and friends. And as long as even a tiny spark of that light still burns, Wyrms will exist. They will continue to seek out humans carrying the light, and help them nurture and spread its warmth."

He shrugs non existent shoulders at Sandy.
"I'm not actually sure. The Teslas and Chain Wyrms just sort of.....showed up, one day. It wouldn't surprise me if that's what caused their spirits to converge into the forms they wear. I've noticed that they hum with a slightly different resonance than the rest of the Wyrms. But the spirit spark is definitely there. Maybe its an adaptation for the spirits that call cities home?"

Lastly Chuck turned to the leopard sitting in the grass amidst her squirm.
"You speak more truth than you realize, cousin." His tone is perturbed. "Balance is indeed needed for the natural cycle of things to be maintained. And yes, even darkness has a place in the cycle, regardless of how annoying it is." The last is said with a glare towards Crowley, who seems for a moment to preen on his Handler's shoulder before withering under Chuck's unflinching gaze. The dark Wyrm is unusually silent, devoid of his typical quips and taunts.
"You ask about the Nightmare touched, those with the blood sickness you call Pitch Black. The little feline sighs heavily. "They are a bit of a problem to the scales. The disorder that leaves it's victims marked is not in itself dangerous. These Wyrms might lean a bit more towards chaotic and sometimes unruly, but that alone isn't a problem. Its when the disorder is spread through breeding, and creates more true Nightmares, that the danger rises."
He gestures for you to follow him, and squiggles to a darkly overgrown corner of the glade. Nodding his head, those who followed can just barely make out what looks like a stone carving under a mass of vines. It looks like a large circle, with symbols along the edges. The thorny vines growing all over it block the center and much of the detail from view, but from what you can see, the carving looks very old.
"For now, the Nightmares do not number enough to make this dangerous. The Seasonal and High Court Fae, along with their Seelie followers, keep it sleeping with their magic. But if enough Nightmares spawn..." He shook his head. "Let's just say I'd rather not see that happen."

[KaiNimura]

"Nor would I," The deity spoke up, "Had enough trouble with those two." He snorted in the direction of Mara and Moroi, "-not a chicken-" He flapped his large wings at the twins, "Dream catchers exist for a reason."

"Big Q says, dream catchers exist for a reason." I have no idea if anyone else can hear the lug as clearly as I can, but perhaps in a place like this - maybe his voice isn't just in my head.

Lord Litha, looked up from the flower crowns he was happily making, when Chuck went over to the carving, his face -paled-. One could see that the appearance of the carving -highly disturbed- the Lord of Summer. His fur floofed up and he fussed where he sat before taking flight and sitting in a flowering tree, glaring down. Until a caterpillar caught his eyes, which he started to follow along the branch, squiggling along, until the branch became too thin and he toppled off - landing squarely upon Big Q's head.

The great lug let out a rather confused hissing -startled noise-, as the fae sat up and looked about, fixing his royal plumage almost as if he was saying ' I MENT TO DO THAT.'

"Get off me head, you poofy thing." Big Q shook his head and watched the other wyrms carefully, more so those squeakers, Oh he knew them. And their loud music, and loud clothes.

"GT.."I pause from everyone's interest in the stone carving, noticing a Nudibranch behaving rather odd. "What IS Pudge doing?", I inquire as I slip Shadra some blue gummi sharks in a plastic bag, before wandering over to pick up Miniboo, and tap his nose, "No fishing for tadpoles, you will get fat. OW! OW OK SORRY OK OW!"

He BIT me! I set him back down, and allow him to go back to his task of trying to fish with his lure, I finally notice my poor Kevin, who is trying to hide in Big Q's tail plumage, staring at Crowley in utter terror. Poor little guy.

[ShadraAvro]

The jaguar eagerly seized her gummi prey, popping one in her mouth with a gleeful expression. She offered one to Azulon who turned his nose up at it. She sighed and looked to the little cat wyrm. It was probably best not to tell him Mara and Moroi had already convinced her they needed more nightmares in the home. She supposed as long as they were controlled perhaps they would not wake this lurking evil.

The little nightmares made disapproving clicking noises from their beaks at the comment about dream catchers. Mara in particular seemed offended as she puffed herself up and scattered bits of black sand.

"T-to bring it back to more positive notes, I've been trying to learn more about plumed gem hunters. I have two myself but I am certain there is more to them than meets the eye. Ever since Azulon came back to me with his new appearance he has been pickier with food. I want to know about their diet. I know shriekers enjoy candied crickets, do gem hunters have a particular delicacy? Does food preference differ from the gem hunter's color or region? Or is it all individualized?"

[Aurorous]

A very confused maned wolf with bright purple eyes and her squirm entered the glen. Aurorous and her wyrms had been on a walk in the woods searching for bones, feathers, and other curiosities of nature when she noticed the pebble that brought her to this mysterious place. She soon figured out what was going on and settled down in the grass to hear what Chuck had to say.

Her wyrms obviously knew what was going on already and each went about doing something different in the glen. Cervina, Wysteria, and Julep the Gao Xings perched happily on Aurorous's shoulders and squeaked with excitement of finally arriving at the glen. The fairies, Icarus, Posie and Dinker, flitted around the glen admiring the most beautiful foliage they had ever seen. Led by Aurorous's first wyrm, a nudibranch named Kal, the marine wyrms and acid leapers squiggled off excitedly to the waterfall, and the big SPLOOSH they made when they all dove in barely missed Chuck. Aurorous was very glad it missed him, she didn't expect he'd like getting a surprise bath so much. As she was watching the near-disaster unfold in front of her, she felt the pebble be plucked out of her paw with pointy teeth.

"Ouch!" She drew her paw up to her face to see a bite mark that could only be from one wyrm: her newest shrieker, and alpha who had yet to reveal his name. He had taken the pebble under a dark patch of foliage where he curled himself around it. The other shriekers, wanting a piece of the action, went over to investigate only to be met with an ear-splitting "SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE". Aurorous cringed at the sound. Having so many shriekers she was used to their screeches, but the alpha's was particularly ear-splitting, even for her. The rest of the shriekers shuffled off begrudgingly, some spitting in the alpha's direction, and went about their own business. Only Albus, the most docile of all the shriekers returned to Aurorous and sat on her lap.

Aurorous rubbed the back of her head nervously, "Heh, sorry about that. But, I'm sure you know how shriekers are, Chuck. In fact, that's what I'd like to ask you about." She opened a small pouch of candied crickets and threw a few to each shrieker to prevent any further disturbances. "I've been studying them, trying to learn all I can about them, but something has me puzzled: their venom. I've seen them hunting bugs, and one jab of the stinger seems to kill the bug instantly, but they're also always stabbing each other and any ill-effects on them are not long lasting. I've had my share of stings myself, and boy do they hurt!" She glided her paw down Albus's soft white body, coming to a stop at the base of his gleaming stinger, "But, I've yet to become gravely ill from a sting. I've hypothesized that their venom isn't potent enough to do a creature as large as I am much harm, but I get the feeling that any one of them could have me on my death bed if they wanted to. Perhaps it's all in their attitude, but I'm not one to take chances like that! Could you enlighten me?"