Rise of the Forgotten (Closed to New Members)

Alicio had been hoping to continue silently in the conversation after he introduced himself. Better to just blend into the background at this point, which Alicio was glad to see that no one was going to really debate. Or hopefully even notice.

Despite that, he wasn’t going to ignore the conversation going on. Komboa brought the house issue to light, Akram was pushing that forward, and what'd ya know? They were here to offer a place anyway. Although, Alicio didn’t really like the way that no one acknowledged the payment of cost aside from Akram and that wasn’t acknowledged by these strangers. It was weird and Alicio wasn’t sure if the implication was that there was no cost for the place and that they were doing this from the goodness of their heart.

Alicio tried to hide a snort as he thought about that. Billy would hate to hear that. He wasn’t exactly sure why his sister was so biased in her beliefs when Alicio hadn’t thought she’d ever given the Isle much thought in the first place anyway. It was strange as she went from “Isle kids who?” to “Isle kids are evil.” in such a short amount of time, but he hadn’t really tried to question her on it. Still, the fact they were offering this place with no extra ties involved would have Billy paranoid about their intentions rather than seeing that maybe, just maybe the transfers were here and were going to be able to bring back genuinely good kids despite the fact they grew up here.

Alicio didn’t expect to take a turn for the paranoid though.

Sure, the bite-bear and Farris were the ones to offer the place and offer to show them the place respectively, but it was Mair that had Alicio tensing up the most. And that was saying something given bite-bear was there.

Sure, he restated the fact they had a place for them. Then, he continued with telling them that it should fit all of them… yet had the gall to ask if there were more transfers with them. It was difficult to try and prevent a squinted glare at the man, so Alicio didn’t entirely bother. It should have been clear enough that Alicio wasn’t in a happy mood that a small glare would really mean anything.

So, Alicio bit out a response before anyone else. “There’s more of us.” Ugh, there was probably too much not-niceness in that. Alicio took in a breath and continued, “We’re only one third of the group.” If they even taught math here, it should give a pretty clear idea of the size of the group anyway. “Still think you’ll have enough room?”

Alicio wasn’t expecting the palest among them to treat it as though Alicio hadn’t just had an attitude. Farris simply nodded with a smile, responding instead, “Sure it will. Might be a bit cramped but it should work. Well, cramped and ‘run down’ like Mair was saying. Here, I’ll lead!” The guy spoke before starting off in the direction this open home for them was going to be.

Alicio hesitantly looked to the rest of the group and then looked to where Farris was walking. Then, Alicio started following.

Montana couldn't let out a scream so close to the transfer's showing up, so instead he set down a box of unnecessary things anyone could take to break. He immediately picked up a can and started crushing it, trying to make it as small as possible. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sari and Aria share a look, but he didn't care enough to actually stop them from whatever thoughts they were sharing with their expressions. Instead, he just set down the now crushed can and went to find Collie. The two started whispering to each other as he left the kitchen, but he couldn't bring himself to yell at them about it. He had been yelling at them all day, there was no need to continue that cycle. 

"I think I saw one running around yesterday," Cliff commented as he made his way over to his sister, after grabbing his own drink. His was just juice, but that's because the way he acted with alcohol was not something he wanted to show the transfers. Mostly just for the first meeting. He didn't want to mess anything up between the two groups. Tonight would be tense enough. No need to scare the Hero children. "It's possible he noticed the restaurant." Cliff wasn't sure, however, and that made him nervous. Having any of the new kids lost was a terrible idea. What if they ran into the adults? None of them would hesitate to cause a war. 

The younger cowboy moved some of the dishes around on the table Cliff was sitting at, and the De Vil was pleased to note that Montana had started humming as he worked. Letting his anger out on inanimate objects worked fairly well. There was nothing to do now, everything was handled. The Auradon kids would judge him, positive or negative, it didn't really matter. In all honesty, he needed to make an apology meal for his siblings and employees. They all had done such an amazing job, between dealing with his stress and getting everything ready. "I'm sure they'll be here soon. It's not that hard to spot between the other buildings." After all, he hadn't spent four months collecting enough supplies to put up a giant wooden fork on the roof for nothing. It was a statement piece. From what Aria said of their expenses, it hadn't been worth it. From the praise Montana gave himself, it had totally been worth it. 

Aria and Sari came out in handmade aprons with trays resting on their hips, smiling at each other as they talked. Aria raised an eyebrow at the group, questioning, "Why on earth are you all just sitting around? We did not work all day for no one to actually party." She gave Cliff a raised eyebrow and he crossed his heart. It wasn't exactly a secret that Cliff was an absolute flirt when he had some harder drinks, so she was pleased at his response against it. Still, the others could certainly drink. 

As for the pink-haired fairy, she was just happy to be involved. She broke off from Aria's side to give Collie a sweet candy and a small smile, but didn't stay. If the boss didn't want it, she wouldn't stick around to watch. Instead, she stopped near Montana and gave him a reassuring shoulder-touch. The younger man flashed her a smile and asked, "The oven's off, right?" She laughed in response, looking to Aria who just rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay. I'm calm. I'm super chill." 

Isabeau would have found it ever so slightly amusing that no one had entirely thought to give the transfers the directions to the Big Fork had it not been for the stress coming from the lack of forethought from everyone present.

Isabeau was fairly certain that’s why she chose to hang by the doorway, leaning against the open doorway, helping to keep the door propped open. She was keeping her eyes focused outside for a group of people that didn’t look like they fit in while listening to everyone inside talk. In the case they happened to pass by or appeared, someone would at least be there to direct them inside.

Plus, doing this was slightly easier than letting herself get caught up in all the nerves going on inside. She had to wonder whether or not the transfers were as nervous as they were. It would make sense if they were by all accounts, albeit for completely different reasons she’d assume. Not like it mattered all in all. Putting together any amount of nervous people felt like a recipe for disaster. Which is why Isabeau was doing her darndest to stay as not-nervous as possible, because the less nerves floating about the better.

Despite that, she couldn’t help but a sigh of relief as she noticed a crowd of kids in the distance wandering about, no doubt their dinner guests for the night. Turning towards the indoor half of her position, she called out to anyone and everyone in there, “They’re as good as here.” Sure, it’d take a matter of seconds for them to reach the building, but they were effectively heading towards them and everyone probably needed a heads up on that anyhow.

Turning back towards the outdoor half and making more of a movement outside, she waved her arm into the air in order to just help garner the attention of the kids and direct them over with a smile on her face.


“It’s gonna be fine,” Alicio attempted to reassure her. Unfortunately, Billy was not that reassured. It was stupid and unreasonable to be so jittery over this entire mess, as Alicio had pointed out multiple times now, but Billy didn’t like this entire thing.

No, Billy didn’t like a lot of things. Like the fact that while Billy and her group were going around meeting leaders, it just so happened that the crew had offered a home and the mafia had invited them to dinner the day after. It was- It was weird and suspicious and she didn’t trust it. It was so strange and too convenient for Billy to just accept this as coming from the goodness of their hearts.

Unfortunately, her brother shared the opposite sentiment. Billy couldn’t really fathom that, but Alicio kept trying to argue that it was fine and they were genuinely trying to be helpful. “Really, Billy. It’s just a dinner party from what we’ve heard, and despite the countless things that could go wrong, the likelihood of any of that happening is small. It would be dumb or stupid for them to attack us in any way, right?”

Billy hummed in agreement. The only thing they had going for them was the communication there. If the group stopped staying in contact with Alexander and the rest of Auradon, then there would be alarms raised and things would go according to Beat’s hopes and goals for the trip. Depending on whether or not the people here were even vaguely aware of that was a different matter though. Though, she supposed reasonably, from what she had seen of the few people she met yesterday, they weren’t that stupid.

“You’re right,” Billy admitted quietly. She didn’t really appreciate his little grin and playful shoulder bump, but it was difficult to be genuinely upset with him over that. She gave him a little smile in return though. Alicio had helped her feel slightly better about the whole thing for the day.

She turned her attention slightly more towards everyone in front of her. Which was well, everyone. Except her brother who was standing next to her instead, both at the back of the group since Billy at least felt more secure talking about this without anyone obviously looking. She’d rather not have a whole bunch of people knowing that she had been freaking out about it.

It luckily seemed to work given the conversation going on, no one really focused on Billy and Alicio. But now, Billy could at least focus on them and what was going on. It seemed as though they had found the building they were looking for. She probably should have been stressing about the fact they had been wandering aimlessly for a bit now in search of the building instead of stressing about the reasoning behind why. Now she didn’t even have the time to stress about where the building was and the implications of being late to such a- a gracious invitation. That sorta sucked. Billy had more panic that she needed out of her system than this would now allow. No matter how counterproductive that sounded.

Instead, she supposed she had to take in a deep breath and continue to follow the group as they moved forward towards the Big Fork. She was mentally re-accounting where everyone was. Maggie and Komboa seemed to be walking together now, Eddie and Raf were together doing something that Billy was almost certain she’d rather not know about, Hana pulling Shimmy back (and for once, Billy was mentally thanking the girl over that), and Silver was seemingly laughing at the little action, off to the side of the group, as well as the others scattered about.

Billy was a little surprised at the smile that quirked at her mouth as Alicio nudged her reassuringly. Maybe this wouldn’t go as bad as she was expecting.

Ernie was standing in the kitchen, hands on his hips as he looked out over the rather bare selection of food. Food wasn't something that was plentiful on the Isle, but he and his siblings made it work. They always did, especially when it came to family dinners like this. He was grateful to have the family he did. Mom? Maybe not so much. But Del and Ebby and Hardy and Emmett were his best friends in the entire world. And that was a high honor, since he wanted to befriend everyone he met.

Hearing his youngest brother's voice ring out in the house, Ernie grinned and popped his head out of the kitchen to see Emmett. "Getting into much trouble? And don't worry. You're perfectly on time. Wouldn't start with a Grimhilde missing," he assured his brother, stepping fully out. He had on his own cooking apron. It was one that he had made himself, though he did have a surprise for tonight. While he wasn't good at sewing and stuff, he had found large pieces of fabric that took just a little cutting and gluing and folding to make aprons for his siblings. That would come out when he had everyone gathered in the kitchen, but before they began cooking.

"I'm gonna grab Hardy," he said to Emmett, before turning quick and heading to the next oldest Grimhilde's bedroom.

The room was even more sparsely furnished than most, with only a bed, desk, and many intricate drawings lining the walls. Not drawings of people or animals or landscape, but of carefully thought out mazes and a large labyrinth. "Hardy! We're gonna be making dinner soon, why don't you come help?"

"Not right now," Hardy said. He absently shooed his oldest brother away, his pencil continuing to move rapidly across the paper. "I'm busy, Ernie."

"Come on, Hardy. We need the entire family," he said. He knew that Hardy enjoyed this as much as the rest of them, he just didn't like to leave his little bedroom. His dark little cave, where he was the mastermind behind the Isle's greatest puzzles. Did you want to set up a scavenger hunt to ask a girl out? Hardy has your back. Did you have nothing to do and decide a maze would be a good little exercise? Just give the Grimhilde boy a shout. As impressed as Ernie was with his work, he moved forward and grabbed Hardy's arm gently.

"Noooooooooo," Hardy muttered, though his argument was weak and he didn't put up an actual fight as he let Ernie pull him to his feet. "My baby." He made a reaching motion to the half drawn maze on his desk, but he was coming willingly when they got out of his bedroom. "Why do you have to be so early to everything?" he muttered, taking the lead back to the kitchen.

"Emmett is there too! It's not like I'm making you camp out in the kitchen for an hour before dinner," Ernie said, jumping to his own defense. The two Grimhilde boys arrived back to the kitchen.

"Yo," Hardy said in greeting to Emmett.

"Once Ebby and Del come into the kitchen, we can begin," he stated, as if it were some dark ceremony they were performing.  

Fern's mind was still racing as she headed back towards the Slim ranch. She had stayed at the Coven's clubhouse late last night and had gone straight to bed. She'd spent all day today out and about, trying to think of the best way to go about this. Her conversation with Del, Mori, and Tait has been useful, but she was still terrified about when she was going to have to welcome the Witch School kids into the Coven's way of life.

Her shoulders slumped as she pushed open the door, hoping she could talk to Junior tonight. He was always good at talking sense into her and getting her to chill out, something that had got her interested in Yeehaw Boy in the first place. She worried and stressed about way too much and he had a much more level head on his shoulders.

Plus, she hadn't slept like at all the night before, and she knew that if she went another night with zero sleep, Mama Fern would become Mama Bear Fern and that was not something she wanted to expose her loved ones too. She wasn't mean when she was tired, but she certainly wasn't her usual graceful self.

"Fern's home!" Monty called out, running to hug his older sister. Fern was too close in age to Fausto to have truly been a parent to him, even though she had tried, but she was old enough to be able to at least be somewhat of a mom to Monty. "I wanna tell you all about my day!" he said.

Fern laughed, trying to hide any signs of stress from her baby brother. "Did you clean your room?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Monty frowned, his eyes falling to his shoes - an obvious answer.

"Alright, why don't you go do that and then you can tell me about your day?" she asked. Of course, it was almost bedtime for the young boy, but she could let him stay up a little longer since she had been so sucky the last couple days. Monty ran off and Fern watched him go before sighing and walking deeper into the house. "Junior? You home?" she asked, calling out for him.  

Shiloh was so upset about running into Shamakani and her followers the day before that he had considered going home. Like home home. Back to his parents, even if he hated it there and Jace and Nanji were more of parents than his own parents had ever been. Maybe Shamakani was right. After all, he was just a human. He couldn't compare with the lions and wolves and panthers and whatever else was out here inhabiting the territory.

He sighed and watched the ground, his eyebrows scrunching together as he tried not to cry. He had to be strong. Even Jace and Nanji were trying to teach him to be strong. It wasn't strong to cry! Wiping his eyes, Shiloh found that he was unconsciously wandering towards where he could find his two favorite people.

"Nanji? Jace?" he called out. His voice was trembling slightly, but he coughed a bit and tried again. "Nanji?" he called out, slightly satisfied to hear that his voice didn't tremble that time.  

Fern hadn't really had animals around when she was growing up, besides familiars, but she was so glad that she got to live on the Slim ranch and be surrounded by animals every single day. Plus, she was pretty sure that Cornbread was the cutest dog on the Isle. Probably even on Auradon. He had a face that even an animal hater would love. Possibly. Did animal haters even have hearts?

She wasn't sure and she didn't know any to ask.

"Just a start," Fern said. She knew that would only cause him to bring her to more animals, and that wasn't a bad thing. Every single animal here deserved attention, and Fern wanted to pet them all. She grateful accepted the chicks, holding them carefully. She kinda sucked at farm chores in general, but she liked to think she was better with the animals than the other stuff.

She followed him out to the barn. It was funny, the coven leader decided, how awkward she had been the first time she had entered the barn. Junior had grown up in this and new his way around the farm life because it was all he had ever known. The same went for his little siblings. Even Monty! He hadn't been a farm kid since he was a baby, but he was only a child and Fern had been close to Junior for a while. She was the only one that didn't get exposed to this stuff from a young age. But now she entered the building like it was her second home and she wasn't caught off guard by things like the smell or the little bits of hay floating through the air.

"How's my favorite piggy?" Fern asked, reverting back to the same voice she had used when talking to Cornbread. "You're a very good boy too, Lester. I'm sure Cornbread is willing to share the title." And that's why she couldn't crown any of the animals as the goodest boy. They were all the goodest boys.

When Junior spoke again, Fern took a seat on a hay bale gently petted one of the chicks that she held. The smile on her face had faded a bit as she took his words in. He was smart, even if he wasn't as eager to take the spotlight as many people were. She did smile a bit at the end, feeling a bit warmer at the thought of him pushing her kindness forward as a strength. She did feel a bit behind with Collie and Ian likely already having plans, but she always seemed to work differently from the other two leaders.

"I want to become friends with them and accept them into the coven. I mean, they're just kids, Junior. It's like the triplets and California being sent away to some prison somewhere. It feels unfair to immediately think the worst of them. But at the same time, I'm afraid of them. I mean, Beast locked us up here to suffer for years, and now these kids are being sent over with no warning. I don't know what to expect from them, and I'm afraid of bringing them into the coven and letting one of my own people get hurt. I want to help them and take them in. You can't tell me that these literal teenagers aren't even slightly afraid of being cut off from Auradon and sent to live on an island of villains. But at the same time, I don't think I could ever forgive myself if one of the coven kids gets hurt." A lot of kids on the Isle didn't have the best parents and faced more issues than they should at their age. Fern wanted to make the coven a safe place where they could feel appreciated and loved and safe. She wanted to do the same for the transfers, but she just feared any negative consequences from it.

She sighed, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling. Why did she ever think she was cut out to be a leader? Did Collie and Ian and Jace ever doubt themselves or second guess their decisions. "I mean, I've already decided that I'm not turning these kids away. I'm not icing them out. They deserve to be safe and happy. They aren't the enemy - their king is. But I just need to figure out how to make them feel accepted without putting my own people in danger."

The coven was her family just as much as Fausto and Monty and Junior and Montana and Homie and Kenny and California and Cornbread and Lester.  

Chase was a cat. A tricky cat that liked to mess around with others. It was fun, and he was harmless.

Most of the time.

But Sofia got on his back whenever he caused harm, so now he didn't. Well, sometimes. He caused less harm than he used to. Unless it was for the good of society... Such as stealing food from the adults for him and Sofia and Concord, or even giving it to Ebby. After all, the Grimhilde boy had more people in his family than Chase did. Plus, he liked Ebby. He was extremely boring to scam or prank, but he wasn't a bad a guy.

If he was a bad guy, Chase would've chased him off. He'd almost perfected his angry cat hiss at this point and hopefully that would be enough to scare Ebby... Although he didn't need to scare Ebby.

Chase was currently tossing a can of... something from hand to hand. The label had been torn off, but he had to assume it was food. And unopened. He was heading towards the Grimhilde house now, hoping to share his mystery can with Ebby.

Reaching the Grimhilde house, Chase began looking into the windows to see if Ebby was home before he went inside. When he reached a window that gave him a view of the kitchen, he saw that multiple siblings had gathered there.

Well, he couldn't intrude in that.

Shoulders slumping, Chase turned away from the Grimhilde house.

He saw Ebby as an older brother, and an older brother was cool. Sofia and Concord were siblings and Chase appreciated them, but neither of them was an older brother, and that's what he saw in Ebby. But Ebby had two younger brothers already and Chase couldn't intrude on it when he was doing stuff with Emmett and Hardy.

Tossing his can from hand to hand, Chase headed back in the direction of the Crew's territory. He was a pirate cat through and through, and hadn't wanted to leave even when Sofia was showing interest in the coven. He was just glad she had stayed. He didn't want to be without his older sister. 

For once in his life, Ian wasn't on the ship. He generally tried to assert his dominance over the town by roaming it, every once in a while. There wasn't a schedule for this, because then the adults would feel too safe. They would know when he was coming. That would just be stupid. Instead, he wanted them to live in constant fear of getting thrown around by him. Even if they were giants and taller than he was, they all knew that he could take them. Most of the time, everyone was too scared to try. It was nice, after two years of constant battles. Having a peaceful walk was one of the best parts about being in town nowadays. So long as everyone behaved, Ian knew he'd have a good time. 

From the corner of his eye, he noticed his quartermaster's little brother. With a smile, Ian circled back, coming at the young boy from behind so that he could tousle Chase's hair. Ian laughed at his handiwork and announced himself with, "You been good today or did you con someone?" His question was harmless, since he really didn't care who Chase scammed. He was just happy to see the teenager. Honestly, Ian should be worried that the young man was messing with the transfers, but he wasn't. Something inside him just figured the kid would want to befriend them. Chase knew better than to think conning someone would turn them into a friend. Usually. Ian was pretty sure that sort of situation was entirely possible on the Isle. Like two scammers just got together, tried to con each other and just bonded over it. 

Ian realized that the cat looked a little sad, and barely kept himself from frowning. He needed to fix whatever was happening that upset him. If not for the sake of the Crew's moral, but specifically for Sofia. The young woman had been a huge help yesterday, what with everything that had happened while they were relatively outnumbered. Not that they were actually going to fight the transfers, but the fact that they had even shown up on his ship was crazy. He had been trying to avoid that as a possibility.  "Do you want to keep me company while making sure everyone's behaving?" The Captain asked with a raised eyebrow, making sure to use his best pirate voice. Sometimes, he played up the whole leader thing, if only to entertain the others. If Tana was around, she'd probably laugh at him. 

"I don't know. I mean, these kids are innocent. It's completely possible that they aren't here to cause harm. But we all know who's behind their mission." She didn't say who it was. The kids themselves were most likely harmless, but it was the puppeteer behind the expedition. The same King that had locked their parents up years ago had a renewed interest in his prisoners and that's what Fern didn't like. "It could even be that they harm us without realizing it. These kids have grown up well fed and pampered. They could see us as threats and lash out in self defense. They could be gathering intel only for that mangy animal in control of us to do worse than he's already doing."

She sighed.

"There's just too many variables in the equation," she said. She focused fully on Junior now, chewing on her lip slightly as she fell into deep thought. "You're right that if they try any funny business that we can handle them. But I guess it's more that I'm worried about who's in control. I mean, I know that it's us kids that are in control here, but I doubt Beast just sat back let the kids run the country. They could just be pawns in some bigger game of his."

She sighed, rubbing her face with her hands. She was too tired to deal with any of this right now. "At least you're right though. A surprise attack from the Auradon kids themselves is probably the least of my worries right now." She didn't know how Junior did it. How he thought so rationally through things instead of jumping from bad scenario to bad scenario like she did. She didn't actually know how to express how much she appreciated and cared about him.

"What about you? How was your day?" she asked. He deserved a chance to talk about his day as well. Junior's life and worries and frustrations and happiness was just as important - likely more important - than Hera. Yeah, the transfer situation was still in her mind and she would have tonight to draw up a plan, but Junior had helped calm her at least a bit. They were in no immediate danger. The Isle kids had home field advantage and numbers if it came down to a fight, and she was sure Beast wouldn't do anything to endanger the Isle while his people were here. He might not care, but their parents sure would.

She could talk to him about his day, pet some animals, talk to Monty before she went to bed, and continue to calm down for now. Then looking at it with a fresh eye tonight and Junior's words of wisdom would better prepare her to bring something feasible to Del, Mori, and Tait.

Right?

At this point, she was doing all she could to just keep herself out of the dark pit overthinking and stress that came with a situation like this. 

Shiloh was glad to see Sola as well as Nanji. They were both better than Shamakani and her followers to be around. To be fair, Shiloh hadn't met many people he liked less than the older lions. Sure, some of the adults were meanies too, but he meant from the younger population. They were usually a lot more chill. He had even been afraid of the ferals for a little bit before coming out here. But then Jace was nice to him and Nanji was nice to him and Sola was nice to him. "Hi, Sola," he said, greeting her.

He had quickly learned that being out here wasn't as easy as he had expected, but it still felt better to him. At least, it felt better when he was able to avoid the lions. He'd heard that ferals were something to be feared, but he didn't fear them anymore. Well, not all of them. Nanji and Jace were even teaching him to be strong! One day, he was gonna be even stronger than the lions and he could go punch Shamakani. And if he punched Shamakani then she would run away crying instead of him.

He was slightly embarrassed now to be seen crying, even if it was just Sola and Nanji. His small shoulders slumped and he shook his head at Nanji's question. "Shaka stole one of my carrots and threw it in the dirt and Shamakani pushed me, but I'm okay." He was a little sore, like anyone would be after stumbling back from a push, but he wasn't injured and he had already learned to try and ignore stuff like that. It was only serious pain that he would have to worry about.

He frowned. "They just did their usual thing about trying to chase me out of here and making rude comments about you and Jace," he said, looking up towards Nanji. It was clear that the group of lions didn't respect Jace, and Shiloh didn't like to see that. She wasn't weak just because she let a human join their ranks. He could see how that night upset some of the wild animals, but Jace and Nanji were trying to teach him to be strong. Didn't that show that Nanji and Jace were strong, but kind people? Or... animals? That was more important than just being strong and rude.