[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/hyRXB84.png[/img][/center] [hr][hr] [color=A9A9A9]They had all united at the square, where the box had told them to meet. Some were chipper, some were shaken, and some were even still tired from the performance they had just put. The gang was back together, at the very least, for better ... Or for worse. [color=8B008B]“Y'know,”[/color] spoke Juulet, her figuratively reptilian eyes locked onto Kaureerah with Leon getting a few glances. [color=8B008B]“if you're gonna sacrifice your best piece to win the match, at the very least TRY to get rid of the big bad.”[/color] she hopped until most of the gap was closed - it took a little, given she only had her spear as support. [color=8B008B]“It's one thing to be dumped in a latrine. It's another to end up with the turd still ALIVE!”[/color] she wasn't happy, not quite angry or maddened, but the discontent was being made very obvious. [color=8B008B]“That would've killed all of us if I were anybody else.”[/color] venomous were her words, just as was the glared she dedicated to the popular, piscine bard. Kaureerah involuntarily took a step back - someone strong was angry at her. Then, she realized that that 'someone' wasn't strong right now. She arched an eyebrow and tilted her head. [color=DEB887]"I owe yoo saumtheng,"[/color] she replied, with a slight bow of that same head. [color=DEB887]"I deed it because I thaught eet waus aur best chence too get reed auf thet theeng end, quite frenkly, I knew yoo'd soorvive."[/color] She grimaced slightly. [color=DEB887]"Yoo aulweys do. I'm... saurry for the deefecaulty."[/color] She met Juulet's gaze as evenly as she could. Meanwhile, Xiuyang looked... about as well as could be expected, given who she had for company. Her left arm had been obviously and brutally crushed with a blunt object and hastily mended. She was still trying to heal painful micro-fractures, but such precision was beyond her when even sensing in this environment was quite difficult. She offered Seviin and Yuli a pained and apologetic smile, as though she felt like she'd abandoned them. She was, however, unconcerned with Juulet. If the Mad Avatar hadn't abandoned her to die, she wouldn't dare to harm anyone here. [color=slateblue]"Well, I'm not going back down there."[/color] She put her foot down on that matter as she considered her options. Frankly, neither of the likely heavily-guarded locales appealed to her. Splitting up was the worst thing they could be asked to do when even their safety in numbers was already just a tempting illusion. Besides, she told herself, the Forge was the entire reason she was here, and it wouldn't do to give her classmates any opportunities to shut her out of it. She snorted dryly. Just what had she called this, back in Cantativa? A little 'adventure?' A good excuse to escape the public eye for a while? Just what good was she doing, here? All she'd managed to do so far was save the life of her archenemy. It was with that weight on her mind that she joined Leon, Seviin and Yvain in the fog. She supposed that she would drop dead in tandem with one of the other, braver souls any minute. Or, perhaps it would be a long time before the horrors of this place allowed the first of them to die. Maybe the boxed voice's magic would even have worn off by then. She wrapped her arms around herself as she pondered her many possible fates. She could do little but keep praying. [color=slateblue][i]Ipte reunite me with my love, in life or in death. Shune guide my steps. Oraff protect me from these abominations against creation. Eshiran deliver me from the hands of those who mock you from beyond the grave. Dami judge me worthy. ... ...Tyrel... live a long life, okay?[/i][/color] Seviin, for her part, had little to say. They'd all made it there, though Yuliya looked bad, like she was hurting. She simply... healed, as best she could with her magics muted. She healed, as best she could, through the feelings of anger towards the faceless horrors of this place. She healed, as best she could, through her sense of betrayal by the ones who'd sent her here. She healed... because people needed healing, and that was what a priestess of Oirase did. [color=FF4000][i]But if you had just [b]fought[/b] - protected them - they would not need healing, and they would know not to attack you again.[/i][/color] Horrified at the stray thought, she misaligned a blood vessel in Xiuyang's arm, causing a large purpling bruise. She shook her head and quickly fixed the damage. Seviin's fists clenched and unclenched. It was the animal in her speaking - the animal she would [i]not[/i] let out, the animal who would only destroy. Besides, it was a false sentiment. She'd been nowhere near most of the others when they'd been hurt. Perhaps it was guilt that drove her, then, or maybe just the familiarity of Xiuyang, but she walked into the fog with them. It certainly wasn't fear that she would not be able to fight for herself. Priestesses of Life did not fear Death. [color=00e600][i]What a load of dung, all of it seems like some messed up test from a Zeno that went crazy.[/i][/color] Yvain looked upon the united group with annoyance. If they had time to argue, they had time to keep on moving. The pain in his shoulder did not fade no matter what he or others tried, yet he did not check if the wound was real or not. Any distraction could make him lose focus on the task. [color=00e600]"Let's get moving."[/color] He walked forward to dare the fog once more. There was no reason to pray, for may the gods witness his life and judge accordingly. Most were entering the fog and out of sight while Juulet was still hung up on the previous abandonment. She wasn't as snappy as she normally was, though, with more effort put into the glares toward Kaureerah than anything else. This lack of reaction was becoming more apparent to her ex-colleague from Vyshta's Favoured, Pluurii, although their acquaintance dated further back than the games. [color=#644a91]“What?”[/color] an irate Mad Avatar turned her attention to the white haired Tarlonese, shooting her down with gaze and voice as effectively as the rifle held by the other candidate. The latter peered away, nervous and avoidant. The numbers dwindled. Soon, they would only have the two one-legged Yasoi, Kaureerah and Yuliya. The Vossoriyan needed to take a seat on the edge of the fountain, passing off her condition as mere exertion. [color=#644a91]“Well, I'm not going anywhere near the water here.”[/color] she stated, her body twisting to find the leaning tower in the distance. [color=#644a91]“I'll take my chances up there.”[/color] [color=#10401d]“I'll come with.”[/color] the sniper with the mousy voice insisted. Juulet cackled sarcastically. [color=8B008B]“Ahah, uhhh-”[/color] with a bite of her lip, she sized up the Yasoi that slowly emerged back onto her feet. [color=8B008B]“With that gun and bucket leg of yours?”[/color] Pluurii, silently, checked out Juulet's frame the same way she had been scrutinized. Emphasis on the spear and the lack of a leg. The Mad Avatar's cheek twitched. [color=8B008B]“Fuck off.”[/color] she growled petulantly. [color=8B008B]“I got my special sauce still working. You can just-”[/color] she made a shooing gesture. Pluurii shrugged. [color=#10401d]“We Yasoi are pretty good at climbing, right?”[/color] she remarked semi-innocently. [color=#10401d]“And I like high points. It can help me keep track of everyone.”[/color] she smiled. For a moment she had looked toward the fog, right where Seviin had entered. Xiuyang, for one, was glad to have the priestess' company, but she jolted at the sudden pain of her distracted blunder, and watched with tired eyes as she shook her head and clenched her fists. [color=slateblue]"Seviin, are you... okay? You seem a little..."[/color] She appeared to search for the right word, but regardless of whether she chose to say she was tense, distracted, or just 'off,' it was going to mean the same thing. Leon had been in good spirits when it was just the first trio arriving. Yuli and Kaureerah seemed to have plenty to catch up about and Leon did the same with Yvain. Frankly, all four of them looked like hell. But the marvelous success of the performance had given enough joy and hope to turn their spirits upward. Whatever Yuli and Yvain had come from, they needed that... And then. [i][b]clack[/b][/i] [i][b]clack[/b][/i] [i][b]clack[/b][/i] A discordant beat had been introduced to the melody of reunion. [i][b]clack[/b][/i] [i][b]clack[/b][/i] [i][b]clack[/b][/i] The performer looked over to see the Mad Avatar was back from the dead. A plastic smile masked his growing sense of dread. Should he be smiling? Maybe he shouldn't be looking too happy around her? Hell if he knew what the right way to look was right now. The exchange between Juulet and Kaureerah wasn't the end of the world, but the former was still giving the latter an evil eye. Of course his luna couldn't escape it by just calling it even. A poor soul had been sent to the Yarsese wilderness for less. He and Juulet needed to talk before anyone reached the Forge. But that wasn't going to happen with so many around to see. In one moment, he met her gaze when the Avatar's glares at his love had switched over to him. It was a quick, unremarkable look that said 'we are going to be the last ones to leave this plaza.'[/color] [hr][hr] [hider=Kaureerah & Yuliya][color=A9A9A9][color=deb887]"Yoolee?"[/color] The Vossoriyan was one of the strong - the destined people - and she had raced out ahead of Kaureerah. Now, the eeaiko had surfaced. There was a pocket of this godsforsaken place that hadn't been flooded and she had hauled herself up onto it, sitting cross-legged in the pitch blackness. Sporadically, she had felt Yuli's presence ahead of her as they swam, but then the distance had grown and Kaureerah had sensed the chemicals in the water burning at her skin and eyes. If they were bad for an eeaiko, they must've been hell for [i]kekar[/i] and [i]heroo[/i]. She'd put what little of the Gift she could muster into protecting herself from their effects, and had lost touch with her friend in the process. [color=deb887]"Yoolee?"[/color] she tried again, and it was cold here - eerie. She ran her hands up and down her biceps and pressed her lips together. She could feel her hair plastered to her back. Unlike that of kekar, heroo, and other land-dwellers, it bunched naturally, the oils in it causing it to stick, slicked back, against her back. [abbr= I hope you're safe...][color=deb887][i]A krin hep nah toas...[/i][/color][/abbr] It was as much for her as her friend. As she had swam, navigating by a mix of energy sense, touch, and intuition, she'd thought she'd felt Yuli for a moment: a truly [i]monstrous[/i] energy. It [i]had[/i] to have been Yuliya, for what else could it have been? Yet, the energy had been behind her - [i]well[/i] behind, to be sure, but behind her, while the sanguinaire had almost certainly been ahead. She stretched out her senses once more and found that it was gone. The lingering unease it had created, however, was not. Preparing her lungs to switch to oceanborn, Kaureerah breathed in and out, emptying her lungs completely. Then, she slid off of the ledge she had rested on and into the cold burning water. She had gone no more than a handful of strokes - just far enough to reach the edge of the air pocket - when she felt it again. The energy was [i]massive[/i], and it was following her, and it was [i]not[/i] Yuli: not in this state. The eeaiko did the only thing that she could: she swam. But then it was gone again, and Kaureerah could not tell, for the life of her, if it was because it truly [i]was[/i] gone or if she was simply stretched too thin trying to sense ahead for Yuliya and neutralizing these toxic chemicals. She had never encountered anything like them. They were compounds that seemed to make... no sense, have... no use that she could discern, like so much in this strange dead city. So, she swam through the pitch blackness, among the ruins, dodging fallen support beams and chunks of concrete and just wanting to be done with it - [i]out[/i] of here! Then, up ahead, at the periphery of her greatly-reduced sensing range, she felt it: chemicals, heat, veins of magnetic energy like she had sensed elsewhere in this place! Most of all, however - and it crystallized as she drew closer still - there was a person: Yuliya! It was about a minute and a half later when Kaureerah pulled herself through the end of a great pipe and landed with limited grace on the ground of a vast strange building. It was full of what she could only describe as... clockwork, and... furnaces, and... some form of engine, perhaps? It was like nothing she'd ever lain eyes on before and, for a moment, she was lost in the wonder of it. She stood there, dripping dry, and the cold began to take her. Soft footsteps padded across the battered concrete floor and a cold wind rattled the doors. It was vast and drafty and abandoned, like everything else in this bleak place. [color=deb887][i]Such wonders... just left to rot.[/i][/color] Kaureerah wrapped her arms around herself and walked toward the familiar agglomeration of a person's energy. [color=deb887]"Yoolee?"[/color] she called. [color=deb887]"Yooooooollleeeeeee!"[/color] There was no response but, as she continued in the Vossoriyan's direction, it occurred to her that this place was a bit [i]less[/i] abandoned than others. The concrete had been patched in places around the massive chemical vats. It was a quick and ugly job, but it had been patched. There were fresh screws in the rusty old metal doors, holding them shut to the outside world. Some form of horseless carriage - different in shape than the rusted wrecks she'd encountered before - waited in a corner, looking old and battered, but functional, and there was a hum, too. That, she could sense. It was a faint thing, but it was everywhere, like being inside an enormous beehive. [color=deb887][i]Only, there are no bees. There is nothing.[/i][/color] It was uncanny. Up ahead was a tall metal ladder leading to a metal grate platform. It was festooned with flaking yellow paint, though there were no cobwebs. Someone had climbed it recently. That someone had been Yuliya. She was up top. Kaureerah could see her and, now, the theoretical worry in her gut had become urgently literal. The sanguinaire was unconscious. She had taken three quick steps up the ladder when she felt it again: the [i]energy[/i]. It was overwhelming. It punched her in the stomach and her world swayed and she started to fall. Her wrist conked off of the metal and her knee extended painfully as she managed to half-soften her landing. She staggered forward and leaned against the ladder for support, trying to gather her senses. Something stronger than her yet again. Something that could crush her and no Yuliya to rely on. Yuliya. She was unconscious, surely. Yuliya would die if this thing was an enemy and, in a place like this, that always had to be the starting assumption. Kaureerah's pulse pounded in her ears and she swallowed her discomfort and climbed the ladder like a heroo. [i]Still[/i], the titan approached. She climbed. Closer still, it drew. She climbed. Dust swirled about the dry cold air as Kaureerah instinctively ducked and shielded her face. Yuliya was still out and it occurred to Kaureerah that she was a sanguinaire and her manas were fighting each other. She would not be waking up anytime soon and, if the eeaiko didn't get her out of here, likely [i]never[/i]. The presence was [i]colossal[/i]: an agglomeration of energy to rival the likes of Jocasta Re. Yet, where the Tan-Zeno was often a comforting big sisterly presence, this was anything but. Kaureerah did not waste time gawking and searching. Whatever the interloper was, it was an enemy. She used what little she had of the Gift to leap over to the next landing and alight softly, obscuring her presence as best she could. There was no running while carrying Yuliya. The Vossoriyan was safer up top while Kaureerah tried to find a way to... What, exactly, was it that she was trying to do? She couldn't [i]beat[/i] something like this. Moatu Suva had taught her that there were no victories to be had against people greatly stronger than herself. She could flee, right now, and likely outrun it. Strong as it may have been, it could not swim like an eeaiko. The last of the rubble from the concrete explosion skittered off the walls and pinged off of the metal grate landings. The dust cloud began to clear as Kaureerah reached out to search for anything in her environment that she could use. For a moment, she couldn't make sense of her enemy. It was... huge, its outline hazy as it stalked through the swirling dust. It... didn't make sense. It was... The bottom fell out of her stomach: the Headless. Societal biases had taught nearly all young mages that a large enemy is often a slow and cumbersome enemy. Kaureerah had to quickly unlearn this. The monster moved with uncanny speed. First, it was down below by the obliterated wall. Now, it was leaping onto the platforms, bolting towards her with all of its speed and might. To be caught by that thing was death. The young mage imagined a vine sprouting from the holes in the grate and tripping the onrushing titan, and the first part came to fruition. It was barely slowed at all: a slight hitch in one of its steps as it plowed past, always in pursuit. Kaureerah stretched her senses out again, and this place was not entirely dead, after all. There were vats - massive holding tanks - full of volatile chemical compounds. It occurred to her, absently, though she did not have time to think on it, that they'd have long since gone inert if this place truly had been abandoned for centuries. The Headless did not care for her contemplation, however. It landed on the floor with such force that the concrete buckled under its feet, throwing up a second, smaller dust and rubble cloud. There had to be a way to use those chemicals! She started to reach out with her senses, from her high-up and dubiously safe perch. [color=deb887][i]That one's a powder - heh.[/i][/color] The Headless didn't even bother to climb or leap up. It grabbed the main support beam beneath her and ripped the platform down. It was all that Kaureerah could do to leap away. The monster charged right after her and there was no reprieve from its relentless assault. It was only defense and she didn't know if this thing could get tired, much less be killed! [color=deb887][i]This is what you get for doing the selfless thing![/i][/color] screamed her inner voice. Yuliya was one of the Titans, just like Juulet and, just like the Mad Avatar, she had been laid low here and made vulnerable. [color=deb887][i]She's your friend.[/i][/color] There was no more time to think on it. They thought had simply appeared and recentered her. Kaureerah reach out, this time, with a different idea. She concentrated and, from the floor, sprouted a large, slick carpet of moss. The Headless pushed off to jump at her and his prey did not have enough time to run. He pushed off and his feet went out from under him. He landed with a colossal crash! [color=deb887][i]Nitric acid.[/i][/color] That, she had learned in Zeno Silvestri's class. She could sense its telltale acidity. There were other chemicals too: oils, bases, and things that she did not recognize. She had sensed a powder earlier and, now, from her vantage point, she could see where it was located. [color=deb887][i]White powder: large and grainy.[/i][/color] It struck her that she had seen it before. She had seen Rikard use it, but there was no time to think further. The Headless was up and barreling towards her, tearing up the moss as it went. This was a game of brinksmanship. She darted around the back of the nitric acid vat, ready to rapidly disengage if the monster tried to just plow through it. She needed to start figuring out what his reactions were. She needed to establish patterns so that she could anticipate and - The entire vat - hundreds of litres - shifted where it sat. It shifted and then... It [i]Lifted[/i]! Kaureerah scurried away like the prey animal that she was as the enormous contained was ripped from its mountings and tossed aside. It occurred to her that there was a sort of rudimentary thought process to the Headless, but that it hadn't considered that the act of ripping a massive tank free would take awhile. [color=deb887][i]Nitric acid,[/i][/color] Kaureerah repeated in her head, [color=deb887][i]Nitric acid...[/i][/color]. Up where the switch was, Yuli remained unconscious, though she had slid to the side and now lay there, arm and head draped over the edge under the simple guardrail, dangling. A thin layer of nitric acid raced out from where its container had toppled and began to spread across the floor. A catalyst! She needed a catalyst. The eeaiko darted behind another vat but, when the monster came charging after her, she bolted. She leapt, settling on the white powder. She couldn't shake the feeling that it would react. And then the Headless was there, right beside her. Its hulking form reared back and its hand reached out and she threw herself to the side desperately, sporepuff mushrooms blooming, ripening, and exploding along the side of the tub. Too slow. The Headless grabbed her around the wrist and, as if in slow motion, she could start to feel it lift. The force was incredible. Bones gave way. Her feet left the ground. Pain blossomed up and down the damaged limb and then she knew what she had to do. She could not hurt this monster. Reaching out with her feeble kinetic magic, she broke her fingers and her hand and it slid through the Headless' grip when it tried to swing her into a pillar. Biting back a scream, she landed evenly and skidded back. Her attacker overbalanced and crashed into another vat, his hulking form starting to compromise it from the sheer impact. Yuliya was about to fall and Kaureerah completed the process. The unconscious sanguinaire tumbled through the air and came to rest beside her saviour with only minimal impact. The eeaiko's hand was a mangled mess. It throbbed and tore at her focus but, now, her target was the pipe that she had come through. The silo with the white powder that she was gambling everything on teetered. Yuliya hung limply across Kaureerah's shoulder. The Headless rose and blasted forward once more and a great thorny vine emerged from one of the grates to tear at its strange, tattered layered outfit. For a moment, it thrashed but, inevitably, began to break through, for there was nothing within the eeaiko's direct power to stop it. She dived into the tube, Yuliya coming loose and tumbling limply in after. She dived and tugged at the vat full of white powder. She did not know its name, but it was decaborane, an incredibly potent ingredient in rocket fuel. She did not see it explode, but water is an exceptional heat sink. Even so, the flash was blinding and the temperature rose close to boiling levels. She grabbed Yuliya and didn't look back, not even [i]once[/i] until she was [i]well[/i] away.[/color][/hider] [hr][hr] [hider=Seviin & Xiuyang][color=A9A9A9] Seviin, in the meantime, had murmured something noncommittally confirmational Pluurii's way, but this one was one of Cascal and Esuul's hounds, for all her meek manner. The tyro priestess had seen her in Tanso and the sniper's presence made her uneasy. She shot Xiuyang a smile that had no happiness in it. [color=F0FFF0]"I think 'okay' is a relative term right now."[/color] She shrugged, striding ahead, but her neck twisted a couple more times and her eyes pierced the murk slightly better than a huusoi's could to regard her fellow Tarlonese. [color=F0FFF0]"but how about you?"[/color] She blushed in embarrassment. [color=F0FFF0]"I made a mistake and left you with a bruise, Mother Oirase forgive me."[/color] [color=slateblue]"I'm... better,"[/color] Xiuyang decided. Not quite okay, but better, as she surely must be after relieving herself of Juulet's presence. Her eyes were evasive, like she'd been found out somehow. [color=slateblue]"It doesn't hurt,"[/color] she added. The truth was that it hurt much less than a broken arm. She strained her eyes to see into the fog, but she wouldn't see anything more than Seviin could. [color=slateblue]"Are you hungry?"[/color] she asked suddenly, and somehow meaningfully. But the weight behind her question surely must have been Seviin's imagination going wild, because Xiuyang was holding out some food. They were seaweed wraps with rolled-up dried meat, cheese and bean paste. [color=slateblue]"I uh, tried my hand at making... [i]something.[/i] I don't know if you'll like it, but even Juulet said it was good, so I hope it at least... isn't bad. ...By travel food standards."[/color] She busied herself looking into the fog rather than at her friend's face. Seviin's eyes darted to the offering and to the one holding it. [color=F0FFF0]"I, um... a'lethei, suunei."[/color] She bowed her head and reached out to take it. She froze. She froze and nearly retracted her hand, for it was unmistakable. Her fingernails had always been thicker and sharper than those of huusoi - such was perfectly normal for yasoi - but they were claws. They were claws and a thin film of flaxen gold hair trickled down her forearm and across her hand. The priestess swallowed. She [i]was[/i] hungry; there was no denial to be made, but... [color=F0FFF0][i]You are not me. I am not you. You will [b]not[/b] emerge.[/i][/color] She stood there, for a moment longer, paralyzed by her reaction. Xiuyang also froze, briefly, her survival instincts forcing unwanted goosebumps upon her. She herself belonged to a family of shapeshifters, and they were on good terms with a few sanguinaires. By now, she shouldn't even be surprised by this. It was almost comedic, how everyone close to her seemed to have some dark secret or other. Her heart bubbled with empathy. She wanted to tell Seviin that it was alright, but the words were vapid and caught in her throat. What kind of person was Seviin, really? Could she ever accept herself as she was? Would she accept the Solari, if she knew? It seemed a simple solution, to just spill each other's beans, but that was very... merchant-like. [i]*Transactional.*[/i] Seviin was different from her, and that left Xiuyang feeling a little uncertain—but, maybe a little uncertainty was okay among friends. [color=slateblue]"Suunei."[/color] She spoke a single word. It was meant to be firm and grounding, but it came out harsher and more demanding than she wanted it to, like the next words she spoke would be a command, rather than the... what [i]*did*[/i] she plan to say, anyway? Did she have a plan? No. She realized that she didn't. She just felt a sudden urge to take Seviin's hand before she started spiraling, like Xiuyang knew she would likely have done if their positions had been switched, and Seviin had found her out. Her eyes were determined, as someone who knew what they saw and refused to brush it off or look away, but that determination wavered when she once again remembered that she didn't quite know what to say. [color=slateblue]"W-What... are you thinking right now?"[/color] she tried, her hand shaking. She let go of her hand, leaving the offering of food in Seviin's palm as she pulled the inferno blanket tighter around her shoulders. [color=F0FFF0]"I..."[/color] Seviin's fists balled and unraveled and she didn't have words any more than Xiuyang had. [color=F0FFF0]"I am worried that... I am about to become something..."[/color] She swallowed. [color=F0FFF0]"...I do not want to become."[/color] She hated the squeak in her voice. It made her sound like a child - a 'precocious upjumped little pipsqueak with too much to say and no sense'. That was what cousin Esmii had called her, and her blood had boiled then. She was not that person now - she was not the animal. She continued, voice unsteady. [color=F0FFF0]"There is a... [i]wrongness[/i] inside of me that I cannot be rid of."[/color] She glanced down at her shoes and and then out into the murk in the direction that Pluurii had gone. [color=F0FFF0]"That one is an agent of the Diarchy and she is not here for innocent reasons. At the very least, she will try to make me... turn."[/color] Her eyes snapped back to Xiuyang and then to the food. [color=F0FFF0]"If I am overcome, if I become more beast than woman, promise that you will not risk yourself. Whatever happens is down to my will and that of the Gods."[/color] She reached out to take the offering in earnest this time. Xiuyang blinked, like a thought had occurred to her, and she swallowed. [color=slateblue]"You're right about it being the will of the gods. Since Mother Oirase makes nothing that is unnecessary, right?"[/color] She tried on a smile, but positivity was a precious resource and she could not spare much. [color=slateblue]"We may not understand it, but what if it isn't wrong to be more than what we seem to be?"[/color] Seviin went still for a good long moment. She breathed. Her muscles tightened. After an interval, she began to come out of it and a dozen different responses flashed through her mind's eye. She could feel the pressure building behind her nose and eyes and she knew that she would cry. She hated herself for it. Abruptly, she turned and stalked off into the mist without saying a word. The tension in Xiuyang's heart dropped and created a pit in her stomach. She never knew what to say in a situation like this. She had a feeling that she'd just made her friend cry, but was it a good and necessary cry, or had she just wounded her more deeply than she could imagine, knowing nothing? Should she give Seviin some space? It hardly mattered, because in this situation, she couldn't afford to. The best she could offer was to give her a bit of distance, keeping her within sight but giving her as large of a personal bubble as she dared, and to keep her footsteps quiet and unobtrusive. It wasn't difficult to make her presence small when this place engraved the feeling of smallness into her very being. She longed to console her friend, but she bit her tongue and cursed herself for saying too much with too little information. There was no way she'd said what Seviin needed to hear. Once more, her own need for validation had caused her to harm someone she cared for. [/color][/hider] [hr][hr] [hider=The Girl and the Beast][color=A9A9A9]It was on these terms that they wandered into the mist, the great oppressive shape of the tower fading into its listless depths. Seviin became disconnected, there. She simply wandered forward, vision swimming with phantoms in the fog, mind bleeding one paranoid thought over the other. She clenched her fists so tightly that blood dripped from them. Blood and pain. The pain would centre her. It would ground her. [i]This[/i] was what the animal did: it caused pain. It was not long before she had no sense of direction, but for a vague sense of Xiuyang behind her, and that began to pick at her conscience. [color=F0FFF0][i]Stupid yanii,[/i][/color] she tried on for size, but it was a thought full of hate and didn't reflect her actual feelings. The presumptuousness, though! As if Salomé Xiuyang Solari knew the first thing about her! As if she understood what Seviin [i]was[/i], what it meant to [i]be[/i] what she was, what she had [i]done[/i]! [color=F0FFF0][i]Then maybe you should tell her.[/i][/color] The fifteen-year-old's steps became stiff and avoidant and she stalked forward a little faster. So much anger! The tears came down her face. So much! She wasn't like this. This wasn't right! How could she have so much anger in her? And, yet, had she not felt a white hot hatred towards the diarchy? Had it not... Her mind reeled and she backed away from where that led. She backed away and just kept crying: crying and walking through the endless murk in this miserable place. [color=F0FFF0][i]I am sorry, Mother,[/i][/color] she thought into the universe. [color=F0FFF0][i]I am trying so badly, but I am failing.[/i][/color] Her friend... She had wounded Xiuyang back and she turned about to search for the Revidian, but she was nowhere to be found. There was only this grey... [i]nothingness[/i]. [color=F0FFF0]"Suunei?"[/color] she tried, feebly, but it was deadened in the mist. [color=F0FFF0]"Xiuyang!?"[/color] This came with a bit more urgency, and she waited, heart beating in her throat. There was no response. This place fairly [i]pulsated[/i] with emptiness, but it was a ripe [i]expectant[/i] emptiness that oppressed and bore down and promised ill if not offered the blood money of a response. [color=F0FFF0][b]"XIUYANG!![/b][/color] Seviin screamed into it and the mists swirling was her only response. Who would want her as a friend? She was no fun. She was heavy and dour and closed-off and refused to be anything else. [color=F0FFF0]"Xiuyang..."[/color] She was being pathetic. The priestess reached up to dab her tears away with her sleeve and took a couple of steadying breaths. That was when she sensed it. The fog rippled and writhed and, charging out of it was a colossal white lionbear. It galloped toward her on all fours, grunting and snorting and she had a good few seconds to watch and know it to be herself. It neither stopped nor slowed and the girl's eyes widened. She dived out of the way as a massive paw came swiping for her chest, saved by instinct alone. She came up in a roll but it was already after her: relentless, rearing up and crashing down, and she threw herself back out of harm's way. Seviin scrambled, once more, to her feet, springing away in a randomized direction. The bear stood on its hind legs and ripped through the mists with bellowing roar. The girl called upon what little of the Gift she had and tried to conjure a barrier, but it was too slow. It was no good and she knew it almost instantly. At a half-gallop, loping along between twos and fours, the beast crashed upon her and, once more, she twisted free but, this time, she felt a hard impact and her world spun and swam. The mists swirled and her scream deadened and she felt blood trickle down the side of her face. She tried to calm herself. She tried to centre herself, but it just came at her again: something that she could not heal or placate or bargain with. She reached up to heal the wound - a gash along her hairline - but it was slow going and she stumbled free of the beast's next murderous attack. Its eyes, dark and hot and full of hatred, bored into her and she could feel that it was not a mindless thing: it had [i]intent[/i]. Internal Chemical magic! With so little of the Gift, it was her best bet, and she sprinted away, blinking the blood from her right eye and trying to focus. There was nothing to climb! Nothing to hide behind! No safety to be had! Her limbs trembled with exertion and adrenaline and she tried to take that energy, to turn it on the animal. How it [i]burned[/i] amid these ashes: incandescent, defiant, but it meant her doom. It reared up again and let rip a snorting roar. She reached for its mind. She reached and... How easy it would be to cause damage - to harm another living thing. She need only have unspooled some basic connections, changed a few substances around, and it would be irreparably damaged. How [i]easy[/i], and then she would be indelibly safe. ... until the next time something attacked her? Something like Pluurii? Something like Miret or maybe a Consoi who saw only an enemy, or a sanguinaire who saw only an enemy? She tried to make it sleep and her magic had no effect. [color=FF4000]"Sleep, damn you!"[/color] she screamed. [color=FF4000]"Why won't you just [b]sleep[/b]!?"[/color] Heartless, relentless, it barrelled forward, and Seviin trembled once more. [color=FF4000]"...[b]Sleep[/b], damn you."[/color] her teeth hissed and scraped against each other and she shook and cried. [color=FF4000]"What have I done?"[/color] Her eyes snapped up and bore into the beast as it closed in. [color=FF4000]"Is it [i]that[/i] thing!?[/color] she snarled. [color=FF4000]"[i]Is[/i] it, you fucking animal!?"[/color] The bear rose up on its hind legs and reared back with a massive arm and Seviin's own arm erupted with muscle and claws and flaxen bristly hair. She struck back at it with all of her fury: every ounce of her repressed rage, every resentment, every fear, every lie that she had lived by. And she met it, strength for strength, and did not need to run any longer. She could not hate herself either, for she had lost that ability for now. Blow after blow she exchanged with the animal, healing nearly instantly, craving to rip its soft skin open, to gouge its eyes from their sockets, to tear into its neck and cover herself in its steaming maroon blood. The girl had become the beast. It was some time later. It was hard to tell how much time had passed. The bear had torn through a half-dozen others like it before its violence had tempered. It trundled through the nothing, lost and angry and purposeless, sated but never sated. It stood on its hind legs and let out a long slow moan, its blood-soaked snout tilting first one way and then the other. Dimly, in the furthest reaches of its simple mind, it began to be conscious of a girl named Seviin - a grim thing that had always hated it and kept it from life. She was looking for something. She was looking for someone. It had nothing better to do and so it looked as well. Somewhere, well off in the distance, it picked up the aroma of meat and beans. Another ways away, it came upon the ozone stench of something like lightning, and the oxidizing smell of rust. It did not know what the girl wanted and it hated the girl anyhow: the girl who used it only to fight and claimed to hate fighting. It carried on for some time more, lost and lonely, rearing up and sniffing every once in a while, hoping for something green or warm or pleasant: for a meal, or a soft den, or a sunny glade or cool stream to drink from. This was a dead place and those were not to be found here. Finally, exhausted and weary of a fruitless search, the bear could fight the girl no longer. It found a place as good as any other and went to sleep, not knowing if it might ever awaken again.[/color][/hider] [hr][hr]