ORIGIN - Dark Brandon Goes Goblin Mode

So, Canis had been a wreck.

Whatever plan she'd had going in was thrown to the wayside, scattered like spores in breeze. There was something unnerving about a cave smothered in white, but still feeling the warm air, lethargic and feverish. There was no way to dismiss it as snow - it was an infection. A living thing like any other lesser.

She thought back to the praetors, immediately regretted it, and tried to focus on something else. Unfortunately, what was in front of her wasn't that much better. Having been ousted from Canis and with no real way to fight back against the fungus, Relic had begun to retreat as the others had done - leaving the cave to the white eyed lessers that had invaded it.

That was Tunnel K's advantage on any other area: There was no life to infect. No soil, nor food or water. It was hostile to all who entered, in its still and cold kind of way. Like a corpse? No, that'd imply that there had been any warmth here to begin with. Crunch. Thud. Let's stop thinking about dead things. She wouldn't have to be stuck here much longer, anyways - assuming she was still heading toward Orion as she had intended.

table by dark

@Anubis

Anubis was crouched in the shadows near Canis entrance, eyes burning with a deep seated need. Ever since Parthenium...no, ever since he'd felt the taste of Mother in his veins, oh he'd felt a craving. Control. Power. It was burning him from the inside out. It was like he was a man with no water and the desert was endless. It had felt so good, so right, even the idea so tantalizingly delicious.

He needed it. Not over a lesser rat like the ones decaying in his cave, not like Aati that lay beside him now, one of many mice rendered almost dead by his magic, but an actual Greater gembound that could cast spells, think for themselves, and were so much more interesting.

So he waited. Dark pelt blending into the shadows of this desolate, misty cave. Crouched to the side, unmoving, waiting for someone unlucky to pass him by.

And there...someone not much bigger then him, but stranger, with a pumpkin head and weirdly placed wings (well, that was interesting! How he'd love to study them!) was approaching. As soon as they were close enough, Anubis threw himself from his hiding place, a new kind of fungus growing on his paws. He made to touch the other, in a place where it would quickly infect them, taking them over, put them under his control.

Mine now.

@Relic

Because of the strange nature of the tunnel, Relic thought it would’ve been a safe assumption to say she’d be travelling alone, uninterrupted, generally unbothered. So her reaction to finding out she had been wrong was not the most dignified.

No amount of fungus brain-washing could stifle the shriek/yelp of pure terror when she felt something brush her shoulder. Her wings snapped outward, the edges scraping painfully against the tunnel walls as she flapped wildly, trying to drive off whatever had touched her. But the terror faded with the itching sensation where Anubis’ paw had brushed against her. Her heart, which had been hammering against her ribs seconds prior, slowed to steady beat.

”Who - who’s there?” Though she remained suspicious, she wasn’t sure whatever was accompanying her was a threat. ~~The fungus~~ Her gut told her no.

table not working rn lol

@Anubis

As soon as he felt his paw brush fur, Anubis had backed off - a good thing, or he probably would have gotten a smack in the face by those thrashing wings! But once the sudden frenzy had worn off, Anubis made his second approach, although not trying to stay hidden this time. Instead, circling around to the front of the creature, feeling the heavy thumping in his heart of anticipation. Had it worked?

Well, it might be bad for him if it didn't and they turned out to be aggressive. But he might as well try a subtle approach - the creatures in these caves loved a good, easy conversation, right?

"Excuse me," he said as he came into sight of the other. "What's your name?" He even had his tail wag a little bit, like he was excited to met someone. And all through it he could feel the pull of his magic worked its way into the stranger's system.

@Relic

The moment of panic seemed to slip away from her mind - a lapse in her judgement. There was nothing in these caves, nothing big or brave enough to want her harm. When the jackal slipped into view, it did not occur to her that the two events might've been connected, nor did she feel to the urge to itch at the point of contact. Whatever had invaded had been welcomed as part of her - though with a healthy bit of suspicion, those assumptions could have easily been questioned.

She regarded him with a steady gaze, posture relaxed. "Relic. Yours?" The question was a formality - his answer seemed far from relevant or necessary, strangely enough.

table by dark

@Anubis

Anubis took a step forward towards Relic. Already, she was relaxing and Anubis knew the magic was working. How far would it go? How far could he take it? He wanted to probe at the edges of possibility, but he was a bit scared. What if he lost control? What if he went too far?

Well...there was really only one way to find out. He took a step forward, deciding to start with a minor thing. He put all the wait onto one side of his body and lifted a paw, stretching forward to poke at Relic's head. "Your head is kind of funny. How did it do that?" It felt like raw flesh but it was thin, like it was right up against the bone. He yearned to look at it closer, maybe cut through to examine it internally - was there any fat underneath? How thick was the flesh? Did it directly cover the bones of the face?

"Oh, I'm Anubis. We're friends, right?" His tail wagged as he set his paw back on the ground, giving Relic his brightest look and his best smile, teeth flashing under his lip.

@Relic

The jackal got closer, and it only struck her now how tall he was compared to her. This fact was not met with the anxiety it'd normally produce, instead with a dim confusion. He had seemed smaller; Maybe she had just overestimated her own size - It wouldn't have been the first time.

She tolerated the paw-to-face contact, but made it clear it was nothing more than tolerance. Her expression tensed and her eyes squinted as rough paw pad brushed against similarly textured skin. There was a great amount of friction between the two surfaces - a D tier pet. "My face? Yeah, it didn't always look like that. Some guy screwed with it a couple cycles back - gave me wings though." Though, reflecting on it further, she wasn't sure what it was made of anymore. Was it even her skin?

Something flickered within her brain, like a stray nerve. A spark of some sort - something about Anubis reminded her of the Doctor. Something in his gaze, it didn't sit right. But, they were friends right? He was just another traveller, and she'd met stranger ones that him. It was the tunnel. Everything seemed like a threat here. "Sure?" She didn't understand his need for clarification.

@Anubis