#mind exploding eyes exploding everything exploding

Idia: *making his way through the undergrowth* Ugh, the specs out here are rancid! 😖 Whose idea was it to load up this many bushes? *pokes a bush and yelps* Ah! Thorn! *yelps again at a dragonfly buzzing past as he runs right into a spider web* ACKPTH! BLECH! I set off a gross trap! Kids! Where are you?

Ortho: Over here, Idia!

Idia: *sighs in relief* Finally! 😭This place is a damn maze!

Ortho: You can literally see the roof of Ramshackle right there.

Idia: Oh. 😥 Look, don't you guys want to go back inside and play something a little less IRL gritty?

Shriek: *sticking half her body in a rabbit's burrow as she tosses up dirt behind her* Nope! 😊 I like gritty! Digdigdigdigdigdigdigdigdig!!

Idia: Girl, ur a little bat not a little dog! How'd you up your burrowing stat?

Ortho: She's using her wings to her advantage! See how she's bracing them against the sides of the tunnel?

Idia: Oh yeah, they're like little support beams that free up her little paw-paws for max digging speed.

Ortho: And they're spread out just enough to catch whatever's in there.

Shriek: *sneezing as she snuffles through the burrow* No good. I think this one's empty.

Idia: *plucking Shriek out of the hole* Yes good. I don't want some hidden enemy pulling a Pirhana Plant on you.

Shriek: *shaking herself off* Good idea! 😀 Let's get some seeds from the alchemy workshop and plant 'em in here!

Ortho: *running a quick scan of the burrow* There's plenty of room for deep roots to grow.

Shriek: And deep roots mean bigger plants which mean bigger teeth! *stretching her mouth and hissing*

Idia: *taking her dirty paws into his hands* Ah ah! That's how you get histoplasmosis!

Ortho: Don't worry, brother, I'm not sensing any overtly harmful bacteria in this particular patch of soil.

Shriek: *perking her ears up at rustling in the grass* Know what I sense? PREY!!! 😈 *takes off from Idia's arms and starts gliding over the tall grass after a vole*

Ortho: *rocketing after her*Get him, Shriek!

Idia: Chuunibat, don't grab the floof! You can chase him but don't grab him!

[[Shriek alternates between flapping after the vole and bounding through the grass towards it, right up until she takes a flying leap off of the sleeping Leona's stomach and pitches into the creek]]

Leona: Ow! The hell ya doing, ya little maniac?!

Shriek: Sorry, Leona! *looking around and sniffing as she sits in the creek* Ah damn, he got away. 🫤

Idia: AHHH! ANOTHER SPIDER WEB!!! 😭😭

Ortho: That's a cobweb, Idia. 😑

Leona: *gives a sigh with little heat behind it and gets up to detangle his boyfriend* Ya good?

Idia: My hero! 😭 Wish I had a magical blade and a vial of elven light so you could just take out all the dumb spiders around here.

Leona: Eh, too much work.

Idia: Even for me? 🥺

Leona: I can just take the ends of your hair and swat 'em with it like a rolled up newspaper.

Idia: Eww!😖

Ortho: *floating over to Shriek* Did you want me to track where the vole went, Shriek?

Shriek: *giggling at some little wiggling creatures on her arms* Look, Ortho! Leeches! 😃

Idia: EWW!! 😨

Leona: Nope. Not happening. *goes to pick Shriek up and start carefully pulling the leeches off of her*

Shriek: But I like leeches! They're like vampires and boogers put together!

Idia: Can we not?! I've already maxxed out my Eww count for the day!

Ortho: *examining one of the leeches* These look to be an aquatic species, so they must have taken a more proactive approach to seeking you out for feeding, Shriek. They react to disturbances by the presence of a host, then begin gradually inchworm crawling until the anterior sucker touches the host and attaches. Aquatic leeches are more likely to display pursuit behaviors while common land leeches often attach to their hosts by happenstance.

Shriek: Cool! 😃

Leona: *glancing at Idia* What, no follow-up eww?

Idia: I told you, it's maxxed out. And I could never eww an Ortho infodump!

Shriek: Can I keep 'em?

Leona: *removing the last of the leeches* Do you have a five-star leech tank in your room?

Shriek: No.

Leona: Then no.

Shriek: *pouting until she and the guys notice the leeches starting to writhe around in Leona's palm until they sprout little horns and bat wings as they take to the sky screeching and gnashing their little leech jaws*

The Four: 😶😶😶🔴🖤🔴

Leona: Well that's not gonna turn into an environmental clusterfuck.

Idia: Nope.

Ortho: Only a 25% chance.