Mari (who?) gulps for a second. She's not sure she can go through with this. She sneaks up near the group unnoticed with the grass hat of Yvonne's.

Grace (who?) glances at everyone in the group, making sure she sneered at Reynard. She looks at Cruize to ask if they should start now. She doesn't notice Mari's arrival.

Rocket (who?) watches Grace look at everyone.

Grace finally breaks the silence. "So are we gonna start or what?!" she snaps venomously. Bad sleep = bad mood for Grace. It's gonna be one of those days.

Cruize (who?) stretches a bit... then gives Grace a nod. "Let's go, now. The earlier we get started, the better." Although a bit groggy from having hardly any sleep -- which is his own fault -- he's ready for action. Supposedly. One can only hope he'll stay awake for the search.

Mari feels insulted that no one has noticed her yet. Stupid of her yes, but she's ticked off! She shyly clears her throat.

Daisy(who?) suddenly looks up. "Oh, yes, going!"

Wally (who?) wakes up finally. Rubs his eyes, and catches a glimpse of Mari. He shrugs, then blinks. "Mari!?" he asks out loud.

Daisy looks startled. "Mari?! Where?!" She looks around until her sleepy eyes put a picture together. "Oh...my...gosh!"

(Scotch)(who?)Trailing behind Mari at a further distance, so as to remain less conspicuous, is the form of a three-armed grasshopper. Fortunately the crowd of bugs that usually accompany the city help him out, and he is able to duck out of sight when Mari approaches the ant group--but in such a way that he can keep an eye on them. He's not quite close enough to make out any faces, just yet...

Rocket blinks. "Mari? You bugs should get more sleep, you see things too much." He yawns and stretches.

Cruize's attention is jolted to Wally as he calls Mari's name, and he quickly follows the young ant's line of sight. Sure enough, he too spots the rather beaten-up Mari, and a relieved expression passes visibly across his countenance. Whew... the search for their lost comrade didn't take long, at all.

Mari clings tightly to the grass hat and shakes violently. Her plan is in motion. She can hardly believe it. She appears thinner, more bruised than usual although her eye looks better. At a glance at Cruize, Mari's blood runs cold. She tries to burn holes in him with her eyes.

Scotch remains standing in place, observing the group through his peripheral vision. Although he can't make out what they're saying or even what they look like from this distance, he counts them -- let's see, one, two... five? Six? Hmmm. This may prove a difficult.

Reynard (who?) wipes himself off with disgust. "Zleep in the garbage. I cen't believe id! Id iz unbearable." He pulls a bit of berry from under his cap and eats it selfishly before anyone notices.

Daisy doesn't know what to do. "M-m-mari...are you okay? What happened?" She starts walking over to her friend. "I was so worried!""I can't believe he'd ditch us like that. After all we did for him!" the complaint originates from a rather whiny firefly some distance away, walking alongside a very miffed fuzzy brown spider. "Yeah?" she replies. "Well if you weren't such an idiot and let the last one get away, maybe we'd still have a job."

Mari waves her hand to prevent Daisy from getting all cuddly; she's not feeling good now. "I'll be fine. Let's just find *Yvonne* and go. I don't wanna talk about it...it was too terrible" she adds for a note of drama.

Reynard says, "oui, let's go! Shamp cen trrrack 'er down, Sarge." Reynard has started calling Cruize that since he got a good response last time...sorta. "All I need iz zomething zat once belonged to 'er""

Grace frowns...she doubts that Cruize always carries a keepsake. That's not a guy thing.

Daisy looked rather odd. Doing the wide eye staring trying to think of what happened thing. She looked a mix between sad and upset and confused.

Mari regards Daisy with a cold, sad stare. It's torturing, but she must do this. She doesn't know why but she must. She finally notices Reynard for the first time. He's still kinda trashy and Mari doesn't like aphids that much. But she sneers at Cruize and whips out the hat. "Here...this -was- Yvonne's. It should -smell- like her."

Grace O.o at the hat...Huh?

Rocket gets up and looks at the scene. He missed a bit, trying to get some more sleep, but he assumes he probably knows more than Wally does.

Wally is relieved at Mari's showing up. :) His playmate is back.

After catching the cold look in Mari's eyes, Cruize begins to feel a bit uncomfortable. Something doesn't feel right about her... it could just be him, but he certainly feels it. Unlike the others, who are more eager to greet her, he hangs back, out of caution. There's something fishy he can't quite put his finger on... As Reynard addresses him, he turns his gaze to look upon him. "Uhm.. yeah. That sounds like a good plan." Before he has a chance to ponder the issue of 'where are we gonna get something of Yvonne's?' he focuses his gaze on the hat, thrust out before him. "...It... was Yvonne's?" He frowns, caught rather off-guard.. but slowly recognizes it. "How'd.. How'd you get that?"

Mari for once snaps at him. "That's none of -your- business! No thanks to you...I was kidnapped and barely escaped. I just happened to acquire this. Lucky you!" Her voice drips with sarcasm and scorn.

Reynard greedily snatches the hat from Mari and laughs. "Diz iz perfect! Ha ha! Shamp ready boy. Okay...smell dis"

The bi-colored aphid yips and eager rubs his antennae all over the hat...mainly the inside part. After a moment he barks.

Scotch's gaze whips in another direction as he hears the firefly and spider's conversation. Oh, no, no no... of all the bugs to bump into, it had to be those two. But then again, he may need their help--much as he hates to admit it. He slips into a small alley, and snaps his fingers to get their attention. "You want your jobs back?" he hisses at them. "Then shut up and get over here a second..."

Cruize eyes Mari. "You just *happened* to acquire that? How would you know if it belonged to Yvonne? ...You don't even *know* her." Yes, he sounds a bit snappish, himself... but that can be expected, especially from the likes of him. His gaze is skeptical... yes; something is certainly fishy about this...

Grace glares at Mari suspiciously too. This -is- definitely not kosher. She notes Reynard talking to the aphid and wonders if he knows what he is doing.

Daisy is just trying to think of something to say. She turns her head to Cruize and shifts her eyes. "Cruize..." she whispered. "Don't get mad."

Anshu and Sarab (who?) exchange glances before shrugging and entering the alley. After some time has transpired, Scotch takes another look at the group of ants, gray eyes hard and calculating. "There's too many witnesses out here," he quietly tells his cohorts. "We'll have to wait until we're in a quieter place."

Mari starts to do some acting. She pouts and crinkles her nose. "Please...I've been through so much. I'm tired, frightened and and and I...just want to find her so I can get outta here" She adds some tears to push

Reynard nods and starts looking stern at the aphid. "yew got za scent? Good. Zen...Sic 'er!!!" Champ barks and runs a short distance, then rubs the ground feverishly...after a long while...Champ howls.

Grace jumps, as Champ howls...not expecting that.Wally yipes and grabs Grace

Reynard whoops and claps his hands. "We've got 'er scent, e's on za trail! Go git Shamp! Whhhoooohooo!" He starts running after the aphid, expecting the others to follow.
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