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Post by Krakenbox on Dec 29, 2021 20:56:18 GMT -8
Lamassu shook their head at Yuan's assertion, and then nodded, opening their mouth before getting distracted by Lucas' rage.
"Oh! The...Draconic, yes she seems talented and quite intimidating." Unless Fawkes was biased, but they weren't there to judge. It was almost like the entity had to concentrate not to smile, trying to match the Fairest's gravity by attempting to be serious. Their energy travelled to their hands instead, fidgeting with sharp fingers. "This was temporary, I assure you. The whole point was to be able to establish some proper communication, and here we are."
A light hiss escaped their teeth as they glanced at Fawkes, again, preparing to comment before Riley tipped their attention.
"You're absolutely correct, thank you. That is what I'm referring to, not my host. Unfortunately, wishing to assist or not doesn't exactly fix it," they explained as their claws sprouted to wicked talons that began to hiss and smoke.
"If I may? I'd rather be polite about it."
Yuan and Lucas' senses went wild, howling in protest as the Bastion twisted around them.
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Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Dec 29, 2021 22:24:00 GMT -8
The Beast actually audibly hissed, the swarm falling down to ash as ephemeral peacock feathers flared in protest in its stead, light catching in ghostly crystals as an unfolding rainbow. The pretense of society had fallen, replaced with the drive to survive. The grimace contorting his face gave him animalistic features, with fangs of pearly white glistening in the twilight. He had the sense to remove his hands from Elemental flesh before silvery talons sprouted from his fingertips, intricate and beautiful but ultimately harmless. Someone had smoothed the wicked edges, turning the Beast's weapon into little more that a quaint accessory. Yuan had no idea what was happening as instinct overwrote decorum.
Whether or not Lamassu actually meant them harm, there was little the Emerald could do to actually stop them. His claws desperately tried to dig into the soil as he braced for impact, hoping to make it out the other end. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had managed to put two and two together, connecting the weird manifestation of his magic to the presence of a Title in the Skein. Had Lucas and him really been infected? They had been tested not too long ago, but there was no telling how quickly the sickness spread.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Dec 30, 2021 6:33:58 GMT -8
Before Lucas had the chance to tell Lamassu, no, hadn't he just told them that they needed to stop interfering in other people's business, his senses were thrown into a blender and the max setting was hit. The emotional violation combined with witnessing Fawkes try to end his life caused something to snap deep inside of Lucas. For the first time in his existence as a life as a Lost, he found himself sympathizing with the Bridge Burners. How was the creature in front of them all that much better than the Fae they were trying to hunt down?
Without the wanton desire to chase his emotional high combined with his earlier meditation, a sensible part of his mind was able to break through his anger and help him realize how dangerous his current line of thinking could become especially when his anger was about to cause him to become completely unhinged.
Before he spat vitriol out at Lamassu, the Fairest succeeded in instantly activating Heart of Ice. The magic of his season instantly froze his heart, causing the anger inside of him and all of his other emotions to dissipate.
"Typically when you ask for permission, the polite thing to do is wait for an answer before proceeding." His voice was flat and his face resembled an expressionless ice sculpture.
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Post by Krakenbox on Dec 30, 2021 11:18:41 GMT -8
"I haven't done anything yet."
The entity blinked, the echo of plumage ruffling at Yuan's hissing. "Oh, is She offended?" Curious now, Lammasu sniffed, squinting as they narrowed their attention.
"For fucksake." The glowing claws swiped at the glass of the Bastion, pulling out weeds as the roots screamed and turned to ash with the cry of the song. "You're getting it everywhere."
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Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Dec 30, 2021 18:41:52 GMT -8
It took a titan effort to calm the screaming in his mind. To convince his body that this wasn't fight or flight. Gritting his teeth, the Courser slammed a fist against the glass. "It's fine. I'm fine. Do it." He was panting, focused on keeping Her influence at bay.
He managed to turn to Lucas. "It's the infection, whatever She-of-the-Sanctuary did to the Skein. They want to remove it. It's fine."
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Post by Krakenbox on Dec 30, 2021 20:25:05 GMT -8
Lamassu opted to work with the Emerald before the dour Fairest. Maybe seeing was believing, as it were. They hummed soothing sounds, though it made little difference as the infection crackled through Yuan in protest. Lucas felt his own mind scratching, muted with the Contract but decidedly uncomfortable as his adrenaline still made him sweat and dry out his mouth. Roots and mossy vines broke through the glass that Yuan hammered, surging towards the Sphinx as it wrapped around their legs to slow its casual approach, tearing like paper from the touch. Dropping to their knees, Yuan's face snapped up on its own accord, as his body went rigid with a wash of fractal light. "I can't have you move, or you could get hurt," they explained in a disconnected attempt to lessen the terror of the situation. The Beast's Dream Avatar sharpened, losing its mercurial properties of shifting details as it snapped fully into reality. Cinderella swore despite herself, gritting her teeth as her fear of the entity surged with the display of command over the Bastion. "I can't have you insensate either, or I won't find it in all the noise."Lamassu's eyes were wide, feline pupils dark and blown as they pursed their lips to search for something, holding Yuan's face to turn it a millimeter here or there with their human hand, while the wicked claws hovered to their side. Recalling something they had learned from someone else, the animalistic weapon shifted to the surgical precision of glass probes. Unceremoniously, the claw suddenly pounced; moving Yuan's eyeball to the side just enough to slide the tools inside. Glittering pollen started to leak from his frozen features, pooling in his eye as well as it reflexively teared from the invasion. Something wriggled, trying to slip into the recesses of his mind, and the Beast would have been twitching uncontrollably without the weave on his Avatar. Something popped, like a static shock, and the panic spiked and the movement increased into a frenzy as the prongs pinched on its target; one of the digits moving in sequence to slide the eye aside to pry the root in a smooth movement. It trailed out like a thin, delicate feathery centipede or chromatic nudibranch that undulated weakly in Lamassu's claws. "Got it!" they chirped, grinning as Yuan felt his muscles contract with the release of pressure. There was a muted sense of deflation as the calm and promise of the Friar's Lantern's song slowed and warped, dying in the Playmate's psyche. A wave of nausea as he felt the root system throughout the rest of his mien twitch like a severed nervous system. A mild detox of time would be needed, as Yuan put a word to the emotion. He missed it.
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Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Dec 31, 2021 0:52:31 GMT -8
Yuan saw white. Every part of him was on fire, a scream of pain and horror frozen as his vocal chords protested against the woven restraints.
He wasn't in Fawkes' Bastion anymore. Ephemeral binds of quicksilver held him against the translucent table. His ears were ringing and tears were rolling down his cheeks as his eyes tried to maintain moisture against the searing light beaming down on him. Pristine instruments held his skin and rib cage open while something was playing with his organs, gleeful. Crystal blades wiggled in his innards, mercilessly slicing anything that got in their way. He could feel every. Single. Thing.
No. NO, HE WASN'T. He couldn't be back there, because he was doing so well. He had friends and allies he could rely on and he was starting to rebuild a life. None of that was a dream. This was.
Lamassu snapped back into his vision, all lights and colours and childish excitement. "Ooouuuhhhh. I think I'm going to be sick. Yep. Yep, I'm going to-" He never finished his sentence.
Whatever the dream avatar had in its stomach was pushed out as pain surged to replace the void left by the extraction. Dry heaves ramped up until pupae and half-melted butterflies littered the glass floor, only causing his gag reflex to spin out of control all over again. Pulling strands of gossamer silk that his throat couldn't quite push out, Yuan coughed out the rest of the sickness before crashing to his side.
"Fuuuuuuuuck."
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Dec 31, 2021 1:57:04 GMT -8
Just because he could no longer feel emotions it did not mean he didn't understand them any more. He still had his memories and intellectual understanding of emotions and he didn't need a text book to tell him what Yuan went through was absolutely horrifying. While he didn't actually feel any empathy, he knew it was important to demonstrate it in some way not only because the Beast had tried to comfort him, but more importantly, because they were all bound together by an oath. They swore to protect one and other the best that they could. At this rate, Lamassu was going to send all of them off the deep end. Let's see if he could with Lamassu's fae nature in some way.
He stepped in front of Yuan in a protective way, signaling that regardless if the extraction was complete or not, he would interfere with any more attempts to touch Yuan.
"I am not sure if you are aware, Lamassu, but your rite that you created using the Old Laws failed. Spring is without their magical abilities to heal their minds and bodies. We cannot recover from pain the same way that we did before. We need your assistance with fixing the rite so we can endure circumstances like this and fight The Gentry. Can you help us with that before we find the Gentry?"
Lucas knew more than that, such as the name as the entitlement, but as he had sworn an Onyx's oath of secrecy regarding those details, he was not able to elaborate beyond that. Not that he likely needed to considering he was speaking with the being that created the rite.
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Riley Sorsa
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Presence (3) Captivating | SL(1) Stylish Mantle (2)Spring | Status(1) Entertainment
Posts: 913
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Post by Riley Sorsa on Dec 31, 2021 9:21:17 GMT -8
Riley put a hand over their mouth at the sudden and stomach-wrenching operation that had occurred. The strange creature undulating in the sphinx claws made Riley shiver. They knew they were in a dream, but the thought of that thing within oneself. Crawling, undulating, living. Then Yuan was sick.
Enough of that.
"Fuuck," Riley muttered, turning away as to shake off the imagery, glancing at Cinder and Fawkes for a moment. Then, before scanning the horizon, where was Oren? Blaze?
Lucas started to question the rites. He had solid points, but Riley was antsy. There could be a fae here. What was it Lamassu had wanted to speak to them about, what news did he h
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Post by Krakenbox on Dec 31, 2021 11:33:39 GMT -8
Lamassu's nose wrinkled reflexively as the Playmate puked on and around them. Their eyes dilated again as Lucas pushed himself between the pair, blinking and not moving on reflex as another being tried to establish territory.
"That was unpleasant," they agreed, angling their head to look at Cinderella and Riley. "Maybe help him clean up? The water will save your glamour, if need be."
The former Beast's lips curved into a small 'o' as they looked up at Lucas, still crouched from the operation. "Which Rite, sweetheart? You need to be specific on which part the Verdant Crown failed to fulfill for me to..." Lamassu sniffed, lip curling as they sneezed into their sleeve. Pollen shimmered and hummed with ethereal whispers, and the Sphinx waved it away in annoyance, turning it to ash.
"First! I will do you one better. You don't need to find the Gentry. The Gentry is in you. You've been infecting Fawkes every time you use a Contract," they explained patiently. "I'm extracting Her influence...Oh! Wow," they winced through a sympathetic chuckle."The Lantern's lit a whole path through you, young Unicorn. I can wake you up if you don't want me to take Her out." They gave a cheeky wink.
Consent first.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Jan 1, 2022 6:13:08 GMT -8
Even his ice form could not protect him from Arcadia's curse as he still considered Fawkes to be both a friend and an ally.
In his emotionless state he was able to remind himself that there were going to be consequences in a mission like on top of sacrfices no matter what they did. The important thing was to use what they learned to make better informed choices moving forward.
"Cinderella can speak more to the rite than me. "
He gestured towards the summer Fairest before kneeling in front of Lamassu so they would have better access to his eyes.
"Let's get this over with. "
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Post by Krakenbox on Jan 1, 2022 17:57:32 GMT -8
Cinder's breath hitched when her name was mentioned, light flaring as her adrenaline found a defiant outlet despite her instinctual shrinking. "The- ...ritual where the- they take the someone at their lowest and raise them up, and then they're culled." The explanation was uncharacteristically clumsy, as she pressed the gas for her brain to start chugging along, only to stall as the Sphinx smiled at her. The face that had turned towards her existed as she spoke, while the image split and simultaneously turned to Lucas. The same restrictions turned the Gravewight's muscles to stone, without allowing even a muscle to twitch. They seemed to take their time this go around, matching Lucas' stillness with hovering claws bent to a point — a crane waiting for the flash of movement beneath the surface. The instrument slid behind the eye; the same as before, causing minimal pain as Lamassu moved with little more than twitching. Lucas' emotions remained muted, but it didn't stop his body from screaming in protest to the invasion. His stomach turned as the migraine flared behind his eyes, sending fractal auras that sparked across his vision as something slithered. Wet darted out of his nose, wrapping around his lip as the Sphinx frowned in annoyance. "This will...take...a bit..." they rattled off in a delayed update, shuffling reassurance to the bottom of it's priorities. The static coursed through Lucas' entire body like he had been hit with a taser, feeling a string slowly extract from the orbital of his eye, and brush against the sclera like a tickling feather.
Five seconds passed as Riley and Yuan watched in horror as Lamassu had teased at least thirty centimeters from the Fairest's brain, twining the slow-twitching root around their fingers. Occasionally the flagelli started to ripple in earnest as the numbing shock wore off, only to collapse before the body started twisting and potentially damaging Lucas' eye and whatever other tissue the creature was spreading through.
And it did look like a root. A third ghostly image of Lamassu appeared overtop of the first, moving to insert a second probe as a branch was teased out, with the main body splitting in to prongs. The entire parasite was forming a small, sadly undulating pile next to the Sphinx, reminding the group of a wet discarded pile of delicate white hairs. Surges of endorphins crashed through Lucas' nervous system like angry waves, stuttering through his mind in a last death rattle as the last segment was pulled from his mind and being. The same wave of nausea Yuan had experienced spread through Lucas, as he felt the root system left behind begin to shrivel without the head. However, the sense of loss was a full depletion as the Fairest was faintly aware of coming down from an incredible high.
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Riley Sorsa
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Presence (3) Captivating | SL(1) Stylish Mantle (2)Spring | Status(1) Entertainment
Posts: 913
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Post by Riley Sorsa on Jan 1, 2022 19:51:08 GMT -8
The Moth had begun to spin forth a rag to help clean Yuan and themself from the sick. When the Sphinx moved in for the second round of operation.
Riley covered their mouth at the display of wiggling extraction. Their stomach turned, and they felt a wave of nausea that they held together with a grunt.
Please, let there not be one of those in me. The Darkling thought to themself.
"you okay?" Riley offered weakly to Yuan and Lucas before looking to the former spring sovereign and Cinder.
The mention of the ritual practice gone awry made Riley pause. That wasn't what this was about, was it? Or perhaps it was? Did The sphinx have an answer to the emeralds woes, a bit of truth they were here to share?
Riley moved to make sure both Yuan and Lucas were okay, using the conjured cloth of gossamer to clean away Yuans sick and wipe away remnants of the wiggling parasites extraction.
"Are there more of these? is that What you need to speak to us about? "
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Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Jan 2, 2022 23:52:32 GMT -8
The Beast didn't trust himself to speak just yet, his pained facial expression visible for the first time since breaching the Bastion; the time for subterfuge was passed, or he simply did have the strength to keep up appearances anymore. He simply nodded at the offered cloth with a weak smile and start wiping off his mouth. Moving to Lucas, Yuan helped the Fairest back to his feet. His movement felt weird, like he was too real for this place of half-formed ideas and dreams.
He mumbled an apology to both Riley and Lamassu before listening intently to Cinder. A slight frown formed at the amount of information the Summer had about the Spring Rite.
"And now Philicia has outlawed human sacrifice. Without a suitable replacement, the Season is withholding Its blessings." His brain was juggling around all the questions he wanted to ask. How was the Monarch not dead? They weren't a Changeling anymore, from what his Contract has revealed. Then what were they? Did the rest of their motley know? Yuan shook his head and pointed a shaking finger the the dying parasite.
"Is that what's been infecting the Skein? The Keeper's influence. It was inside me and I brought it here." He was ashamed of his mistake. "But we had been tested recently."
"Thank you for pulling it out."
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Post by Krakenbox on Jan 4, 2022 21:07:06 GMT -8
Lamassu nodded, "As I said, I'm interested in helping. With any curse, really, even yours! The problem is that I need to-"
The entity's head snapped as they sensed something, eyes darkening as their eyes dilated. A sound somewhere between a growl and cracking glass rumbled in the Sphinx's chest, shifting to the winged beast as they took off with a new immediate distraction.
Reality seemed to fold as a roaring cacophony blasted through the skin of the Bastion as it was torn open from the Skein. Whatever had forced it's way in was reforming, to which Lamassu swatted to the ground. Hissing, the lion's tail whipped as another paw sent the second form tumbling into the shoreline.
For Oren and Blaze, it was a surreal scene to take in, with Lucas stunned and frozen on his knees, Yuan covered in vomit as Riley had taken a wad of cobweb cloth and was attempting to clean him. It didn't do much to clean up the wrything, root-like pile of parasites that were slowly dying on the beach. The Playmate had his hands up, mostly soaked in blood that had sprayed around his torso, and The Sun's Tongue equally painted as she leaned over the unconscious and red drenched Sunbanisher with his throat violently gored.
Oren has the Pinned Tilt, but no damage is being applied or dealt with a Sphinx's claws. Either can perform an attack if they wish to begin Combat Rounds.
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