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The moment Lizbeth approached, Joy doubled her efforts in trying to wriggle out of Cris's arms, wagging her tail frantically. A friend a new friend hello hello hello I've only met you and I love you, do you have a ball? Or a frisbee? My friends here had a ball but they lost it, did you see it? Do you know where we can find sheep? Throw me a stick I'm a good puppy, I'll fetch it for you! It was almost too easy to imagine what must be buzzing through the robot-dog's mind! "Erferferferferf!!" she barked excitedly, flicking her tiny ears back as if imploring cuddles.

"Oh? Hello," Cris turned toward the doe and nodded in greeting, the friendly smile still there in her eyes behind the mask. At her question, though. she blinked. "Hotel service? I don't think they have a regular pick up point around here, but if you reserved it's possible they are sending someone especially? The nearest hotel itself is down in the valley", she gestured, "but getting there by foot takes a while..."

Just then, she saw Cedar emerge from the cabin, and it dawned to her that she must have been outside longer than she had realized."Gosh, I'm sorry! I swear I didn't forget about that coffee, just got distracted--" She turned a look around to the Japanese siblings and the doe. "Say, why don't you all come inside to rest? The fireplace's on and I was just about to brew something warm to drink..." turning to Lizbeth, she added: "If you wish, we can ring up the hotel and ask exactly where they're going to meet you?" Then, to Chiharu and Asahi: "And you can meet Nano, the other dog I told you about..."

It was then she noticed something about Cedar that she had completely missed when she found them half-frozen on the doorway. The unexpected guest was floating on a broom. "Woah... that's a pretty cool transport you got!" she said. "Magical, I give it?" Well, that would confirm that she was either familiar with magic or at least knew enough about it to not react in a startled or shocked manner as most people who had never had experience with anything supernatural would. Not too surprising, though, considering the ease with which she had spoken of the Multiverse...

But at Chiharu's words, she turned and laughed, shaking her head. "Oh no, far from it! Boring are accountants in", she slowed her voice to a droll, slow motone, "n e v e r e n d i n g - b u s i n e s s - m e e t i n g s...", she mimicked playfully, before returning to her usual voice, "not surely normal people, who have their own stories and quirks and uniqueness!"

The doe has only eyes for that struggling puppy, the only thing that is able to put a smile on her lips. It’s not that all those people would bother her, the Asian siblings, the kitsune mask or them on a brush, no, it’s more the fact that she very slowly realizes that Max and her were duped. Or did Max this on purpose, no that can’t be, not Max.
“Ow…. By foot… a while… maybe that would be…very good idea, * Lizbeth sighs, she wasn’t prepared to walk, so accepting Cris’ invitation is a must.
But again that barking over excited puppy gulps all the deer’s attention and from under that wrapped blanket appears shyly a tender trembling hand and furred arm with a magnificent bracelet demanding permission to caress that dog.
Lost in her thoughts she hears half of what Cris says and didn’t pick up the fact that Cedar, they were still riding that broom. Lizbeth is used to magical features or high technology devices, she herself were shaped by a shaman.
She doesn’t even react to the funny words spoken, or the fact that it’s not Cris she senses to be a Kitsune, but the two siblings. Lizbeth’s mind is blurred…
Zombie-wise she would follow everyone inside the cabin or wherever they all would go, as long as that puppy would continue to wiggle its tail.
“Telephone… yes… boring accountants… mmhm… super normal humans… kitsune puppy…” mumbling words of a half asleep doe, a warm brew would be very welcome.

Seeing Lizbeth's trembling hand, poor Cris entirely misunderstood the situation, and assured: "Don't be afraid, you can cuddle her... she doesn't bite, I'm just holding her back because she gets really really overexcited and then we might have to chase her all around the mountains." Chuckling, she took a step closer so the doe could more easily reach out for Joy's tiny head. "Say hi, Joy!"

Cuddles! Cuddlescuddlescuddlescuddlescuddles.... The little border collie barked happily and pinned her ears even further back, then licked the hand petting her as her tail wagged even faster. Mom let me down, I must get all these new friends in the circle of happiness!! By now her tail was a blur, it almost made one think that if Cris had released her she'd hover around the place like a mini-helicopter just by how muchit was wagging. Definitely, the day couldn't have started better! Mom was holding her, there were new friends who liked cuddling her, and she still had to find where the ball disappeared and prove what a good doggo she was!

Smiling at her enthusiasm, Cris turned reassuringly to Lizbeth. "Besides, if your transport is on its way and they don't see you, they oughta knock up at the cabin... so better wait for them inside than out here. And meanwhile we can call and figure out what happened." She tilted her head, unable to hold back the curiosity. "Do you... I mean, are you visiting the experiments packs in their chalet in the woods, or... just here for tourism?" She knew there used to be herbivores among them, but by what she recalled they had drifted off the main pack years prior. Maybe Liz was one of the fleeting "bait experiments"... or she might not have anything to do with them at all, but the curiosity was too strong, and Cris had to ask.

The deer's hand goes very gently over the puppy, even if this one is moving like an eel. "Hello joy", she whispers. Maybe if she lays her hand softly against the dog this one might calm down, this always works with other animals. Lizbeth is totally unaware that in fact it's a robot, and her deer senses are like tricked too.
The sapphire in her bracelet glows softly, unnoticed.
The small round of people standing not far from that inviting lakeside cabin is completed with Cedar, the human without adequate clothing. Not all humans have that natural coat like Lizbeth. She only keeps the blanket as this one is snuggly warm. The cold always makes her fur stand, she looks like a fluffy plushtoy at that moment. Lizbeth tries to smile to everyone, and gives like a friendly answer to Cris, "That would be very kind of yours. I just would love to rest, Max, the one pulling the sleigh, arranged me these few days here. I do not know what awaits me."
Lizbeth seems cold and distant, almost not reacting neither to Chiharu, nor to Asahi or Cedar, she's worried and the tiredness is written in her face. It's not normal for that doe, but still two words catch her attention, 'experiments pack'. Instantly last reserves of energy make her look up again, did she hear right? There are experimental creatures living nearby?
- No Lizbeth, you got that wrong, it must be something else, you are here to rest, not to be possible help for others - her little voices whisper to her.
Still it got all attention of the doe, she'll have to ask if she doesn't want to die of curiosity-attack.
"In fact I'm only here for a few days of tourism, some at home say I were close to, how they called it, 'burnout'. I don't know. But what do you mean with experiment packs?"
Nobody knows that Lizbeth is in fact an experiment, a shaman changed that feral doe into that what stands within the group in the snow. But the purpose were quite different than just a scientific experiment.

((...And the entire rp is filled with novella-))

From the distant, a small figure appeared.
It seemed to be a human, braving the winds head on but more so as if the winds were not too much of a deal.

As they approached, they appeared... to be a teenager girl. Her dark brown hair was flowing with the wind, and as she spotted the place, she took a pause, then the wind became more rapid for her as she started walking faster, with some sort of excitement shining in her navy blue eyes.

Getting near, the details could be seen better. She was wearing a white T-shirt - not very wise choice - with a blue coat over it. The T-shirt had somehow nerdy text printed on it, ">hello, world._" She was also wearing long blue cotton trousers and a pair of brown boots.

The girl waved at whoever was there, "Hiya!"

"Hey, no worries about the coffee! It's cool!" Cedar glances left and right, before sneering to themself. "I mean, it's gonna be cool in a few minutes if you leave it sitting out for too long."

They're chuckling to themself as if they've just managed to tell the funniest joke in the world. Already anticipating lukewarm reception for the joke, they just sigh and shrug their shoulders. "But for real. I'm in no rush for coffee. I was just bored in there all by myself."

Cee hugs themself with their blanket, already dreaming about the warm cabin interior, before several people mentioned the broom they were standing on. First Chiharu, followed by Cris. "Huh? Oh, yeah, that! It's magic. Got it from another dimension! Blew most of my paycheck on it, but it was worth it. This bad boy can sweep so many floors."

Cedar kneels down and slaps the wooden handle, before standing upright. The broom hardly wobbles as they do this, almost as if it was determined to keep its rider from falling into the snow beneath them. "Oh, and it can hover. It's like a skateboard, so that's cool too, I guess."

The sarcasm in their voice suggested that the hovering thing was the coolest thing about the broom.

Cris was inviting the others inside as well, casually guiding the sleepy doe to her residence with the promises of calling a hotel for her, and the siblings weren't too far behind. Cee shifted their weight on the broom, causing it to react accordingly- slowly, it followed along with the rest of the group. They weren't looking to speed ahead and leave everyone else behind.

They were glad they didn't, because out of nowhere, a teenaged girl suddenly made herself known, speedwalking towards the group and waving them down. Cee poked their scarred arm out from the blanket just long enough to wave back at her.

"Hey, kid!" Cee called out at Lin. "You'd better hurry up, because this train to Cozy Town is leaving!"

Greetings out of the way, Cee continued to follow along with the rest of the group to the cabin, doing their best to follow along with the conversation.

"I'm hurrying!" Having heard the words, the girl sped up accordingly. It seemed like she was running.

And when she got there, she slowed down and followed the group closely. She had noticed the broom, just that the primary thing hadn't been the broom. "Hey, is that a flying broom? I thought it'd only appear in western fairy tales-" She seemed surprised, and turned to Cedar. "Where did you get that?"

The siblings had had a conversation just out of earshot of the others, regarding whether or not they should accept the invitation and go into the cabin. Asahi, of course, was on side 'no'; Chiharu was on side 'maybe...?'. They wanted to see another cute robot dog, and go somewhere cozy, and maybe make new friends. He wanted to get out of here before it became a full-blown party; at this point, with the arrival of yet another human, Asahi was starting to suspect some kind of supernatural force might be at work, drawing strangers to this place. Why else would there be so many people, who hardly even seemed to originate from the same type of world? He was once again growing suspicious of this strange fox-masked woman and her talk of the multiverse.
That suspicion, ironically, was what had Asahi finally saying: "Alright... We'll go inside." Because maybe then he could figure out just what the heck was going on around here.
And Chiharu... They were wondering about all this, too, though less intensely. But it was mostly the robot dog thing. That was why they wanted to go in. They also saw this as a good opportunity to try to be helpful, and offered, "I can help make coffee and stuff? Maybe?"

All the company seems to go for inside the cabin, which is a rather welcoming idyllic place, just upon that lake, it must be a pleasure to live there. Those would be totally normal thoughts of this doe, normally… she would be honored and glad to visit it and even be offered a welcoming warm brew, normally… But today is not normally, the more the day holds her awake, the more she looses her thoughts. The teenager girl arriving in a hurry, she’s known to her, yet she seems not to remember. Her fine deer ears could easily pick up the ‘more private’ conversation of the two siblings, none she notices of what they said.
She was even ready to drink unconsciously some coffee, a stimulant she never drinks, except if one wants to see a deer dancing on the ceiling. A momentary lapse of reason, should that doe drink that black brew, add some sugar and….
Lizbeth obediently follows everyone inside, the face of that teenager girl haunting her.

While having a chat, the girl's eyes glanced around.

And then, she spotted the doe.

((DRIVING IN MY CAR RIGHT AFTER A BEER
HEY THAT BUMP IS SHAPED LIKE A DEER))

...she remembered seeing her somewhere. "Pardon me-"

With a pleasantly surprised expression, she leapt to almost beside the deer (with some distance), "We must have met before."

“I hate winter. I hate winter So. Much.” Esme huffed, one arm wrapped around her son’s broad shoulders and the other hand gripping her metal cane. Her peacoat and a set of leather gloves did little to keep her warm. “Remember after the divorce, John, when I said, now that your father’s out of the picture, let’s move to the Ashlands and never be cold again?”

“I recall you saying something to that effect, yes.” John was far less concerned about the cold, wrapped up in his favorite wool overcoat. He bore the minimal weight of his mother’s lanky near-six-foot frame with ease. “Though I think you used less polite language for him than just ‘your father’.”

She barked out a laugh. “Ha! Guess I’m in a charitable mood today. But I won’t be for much longer if we don’t shelter from this infernal cold soon.”

The cold not only made Esme’s old war injuries ache, but also made it so she could feel, viscerally, the presence of each and every one of her implants as the metal slightly contracted. Every step she took made her wince. Even her face was achy around her prosthetic eyepiece. Someday she would be free of the flesh and the pains that came with it, but for now she had to suffer the discomfort that arose from this clash of organic matter and machine.

John squinted out into the distance through his glasses, using his free arm to shield his face from the powdery snow kicked up by the wind. “Perhaps we should check out that cabin up there. Looks like there’s a good amount of activity. Maybe it’s an inn or something.”

“Well, don’t just talk about it. Take me there,” Esme ordered.

He started walking in that direction, towards the warm lights and wood smoke of the cabin, Esme in tow. “You know,” he started, “I would normally have concerns about safety, walking into a place like this. It could be a trap; the enemy is ever relentless and deceitful. But—“

His mother cut him off. “But, you’re willing to put your worries on pause for a minute to get your mother off of her feet. At least long enough to catch her breath and swap in a fresh chem pack,” she finished. “That’s what you were about to say, right?”

“…I suppose, yes.”

“This isn’t a war zone, kid. Relax a bit.” She gestured with a nod of her head towards the group of people going into the cabin. “Hey, look there. I’ve set foot on a lot of planets but I’ve never seen deerfolk before.”

“Interesting.” John’s attention was, admittedly, not on the deer woman. He was scanning the area for signs of dark magic. Necromancers and demons were what he was worried about, and contrary to what his mom was implying, they didn’t confine themselves to war zones. They lurked in the most mundane of places. Places like this. It was only prudent to be on his guard.

But maybe, this time, she was right and everything would be fine. Divines willing, he thought.

When they reached the cabin, John knocked on the door, while Esme leaned even more of her body weight into him. She was getting very, very fatigued.

His body felt surrounded by pure cold.
Apollo blinked his eyes open, gaze directed up towards the sky. he could tell he was laying down, and observed as specks of snow fell onto his face. Weird, it didn't snow where he lived...
Wait, then where am I?

The alien sat up, clothing clearly not appropriate for the weather- he was rocking a T-shirt and khaki shorts in the middle of winter. Apollo didn't allow this issue to endure for very long, though, opting to grow fur all over his skin in order to insulate his body. This took mere seconds, completely unlike any creature from earth.
"Hm.. how do polar bears work again?.. hollow hairs and dense undercoat? Yeah, sounds right."
He muttered to himself as he worked, transforming his new coat of fur to be optimized for the cold biome. He could still feel the cold, but it no longer stung his skin like before.

Now, to figure out where I am.
Apollo climbed to his feet, Immediately feeling his shoes sink into the snow. Dang.. he'd forgotten snow did that sorta thing. He let out a small sigh, closing his eyes and listening closely to the surrounding area. He could hear voices of other people not too far away- many different voices. Phew, civilization!

The alien started in the direction of the voices, quick to spot the cabin in the distance. The voices didn't seem dangerous, but he couldn't help but feel cautious; especially considering the fact he had no clue where he was and how he got here. As he neared the structure, he decided to evade detection for a moment by turning his fur coat white- thus blending in with the snow. Apollo crouched down behind a snow pile as he watched two people approach the entrance of the cabin, listening closely to determine whether this place would be safe for him.

Cris chuckled at Cee's joke about the coffe, and nodded. "Point stands, I've been a poor hostess and I apologize for that", she said. "Seems a lot of pathways are crossing today..." Amusingly she was beginning to wonder, on tge same wavelenght as Asahi albeit less warily, if something might not going on to guide all these people to the lake. Of course, it could be just fate being whimsical, but even fate sometimes was all but linear in the Multiverse - to say nothing of time...

Everyone seemed to agree to her suggestioj to move indoors, and behind the kitsune mask she smiled with her eyes. "Then you are all most welcome", she said with a little bow of her head, gesturing to the ladder and the cabin.

At Chiharu's words she answered: "If you wish, that'd be kind of you but you don't have to", she assured. "I'm just in the habit of doing things for my guests so they can just rest and be comfortable."

At Lizbeth's words about the reason for her visit, she winced sympsthethically. "Burnout? Ouch, yes you definitely did well to take a break before that got serious. I usually take cachets with me in the busiest days but there are just moments where you need to get everything off your system or you'll explode." With a life packed busy as hers was - not that her guests could imagine just how much - she understood the poor doe's distress only too well. "And as for the experiments... they're refugees from some long-ago scientific lab. A pack of mostly canines and felines, but also some birds and mustelids... however I know there used to be herbivores among them who splinted off, it's why I thought you might be one of them", she explained sonewhat apologetically. "The "main" pack, with the wolves and the big cats all the carnivores, moved in the woods some years ago", she nodded vaguely toward the treetops.

Maybe she would have wanted to say more, but she was distracted when Cee was the first to spot another new arrival, a teenager gorl running toward them. "Look", she told Lizbeth, "maybe she's the person sent to pick you up?" Maybe she was the daughter of the innkeeper, or an assistant trainee. She took a step foward, waving at Lin. "Hi! Are you from the hotel in the village, by chance?" she asked - and, for good measure, repeated in german, which she knew was the mothertongue of a good many villagers. "Kommen Sie vom Hotel unten im Dorf?" The fact that she seemed to recognise Lizbeth seemed to suggest as much! Maybe one of the mysteries of this day was going to be solved, after all...

Of course tge momentary relief was short lived because, looking up from the small group, she suddenly notoced two more people approaching from the lake. A man carrying a woman. And of course, poor Cris's assumption was once more totally wrong, but also totally logical at this tine of the year and ij this weather! Cursing ubder her breath, she gestured for the group to wait and hastened toward Esmeralda and John, shouting over the wind's howl: "Heyyy! What happened? Did soneone get hurt?" People who lived in isolated places like her always kept some first aid supplues for just this reason!

Meanwhile Joy had pinned back her ears so that Lizbeth could cuddle her better and was happily licking her hand when Cris set her down to go check on the approaching duo. More friends! Normally the hyperactivr puppy would already have bolted ahead of Cris to greet them - but just as she was about to, suddenly her little head turned around, leathery nose twitching, beady eyes blinking as she turned toward the pile of snow that Apollo used as his hiding place. An unknown scent! What could it be? What if it was a sheep?

"Umm, no?"
Xueqing got a bit confused hearing Cris ask about where she came from. Nonetheless she waved, "Nice to meet you anyway!"

This girl didn't understand German, to Cris' probable surprise. The only word she understood in the German sentence was "hotel". From this, she guessed that the sentence was a replication of the question asked before, and therefore asked, "What was that language?"

Figures. It couldn't be as simple as the hotel actually sebding someone only a few minutes later than expected, could it? Perhaps they got the time wrong. Or the place wrong, even if as far as Cris knew, hers was the only cabin this close to the lake. Or maybe there had been some other accident and they didn't know how to send word... who could tell?

"Ah, sorry-" Cris shook her head to Lin, half in greeting, half in apology. "It's german, many people in the village speak it instead of English."

(Of course being a technological disaster as she was, Cris had preferred dusting off her memories of german from university than trust a speech-comm translator, particularly after that time a very angry german guy whipped around demanding to know what did she say about his mother when the query in the translator should have been addressed to a farmer and asking about the price of apples. No thanks, better get back her old grammar studybooks from her days at OmniSorbonne...)

"You see, this lady", she gestured toward Lizbeth "was waiting someone from the hotel to pick her up and when I saw you running this way I thought you might be the person she was waiting for..."

Of course that left open the question as to what, then, she was doing there; maybe just trekking, or she was one of the people who wanted to ice skate on the lake... but tgere'd be tine to figure it out as there now seemed to be an emergency at hand, and Cris rushed toward John and Esmeralda thinking they must have had an accident in the woods.

Apollo had just been peacefully spying from behind his mound of snow, before noticing the little dog.. but something was off about it. His brow furrowed in confusion at he stared at Joy, trying to figure out why she smelled like metal and felt oddly uncanny to him. The puppy was cute irregardless, but it took him a moment to consider.
Is that a robot dog?-

He stared at the mechanical marvel of a creature, dumbfounded by how realistic Joy was. How?.. The most advanced robot pet he could recall were those IDogs, but now this? was he still even on earth?

As for what Joy was seeing peeking at her behind the snow mound, Apollo almost resembled a yeti in his current appearance. He was still covered in white fur to insulate him from the snow, all besides his face- which looked very much human. Once he realized the dog had spotted him, his eyes grew wide and his face retreated back behind the snow pile.
With all that white fur, He probably looked quite similar to a sheep…

Lizbeth respectfully nods to either Cris and Lin, but didn’t get a word of that German phrase. She lifts an eyebrow, was she supposed to talk that way? “Coman thee foam Ho-tell oontain im Doorphe” A second smile appears on the lips of that doe.
Still that story of that experiment triggered her, in a way that a walk up there has become inevitable. But not now, later, surely rather tomorrow.
The conversation with Cee, Chiharu, Asahi and Lin is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of two more persons, and their host darting of to help them. The deer didn’t notice that someone or something were hiding behind a heap of snow, even if she had an impression of movement in the corner of her eye.
But no need to bother about that, believing their host, someone is endangered and Lizbeth can’t do else than help, voluntarily help and she quickly follows Cris. It’s not only here that helping someone in need is a must, this is true for any creature of the forest.