ORIGIN

Tema had been searching, wandering the caves with a growling stomach nothing could quite please. She'd passed through Cepheus once before, nothing more than a faint memory now, but she'd never traversed this far. It had felt wrong as a cub to stray too far from their birthplace, let alone- No. She would not think of them any longer.

Now, she was fully grown and more than capable of exploring further caves. The Void should be able to rely on her no matter where it might lead her, no matter what it might need from her there, and she still had yet to find the means to satiate herself. It was the perfect reason to explore, to push herself to new heights and learn more about the Corruption. Where could she find more? For something that wished to see chaos among the caves plural, she wondered why she had yet to see evidence of it outside of the altar tunnel.

A sudden burst of flame, if you could call it that seeing as it was the black-purple sheen of the oil she craved, caught her attention. Something purred in the back of her mind, the claws of a cat making biscuits on your lap, vaguely comforting despite the pain.

"An interesting display." She made herself known, standing a few paces away despite violent whispers cajoling her to charge. Easy prey...

"speaking" and corruption

Tema's tongue darted across curled lips without conscious thought, visions of blood and black ichor swirling together in puddles at her feet. The hissing and glaring made them hard to ignore. And the oil... Tema was hungry for it, fighting the urge to charge, to tear, to drink...

"Just magic?" She asked, voice distorted with a rumble from deep in her chest as she took a steady step forward. "There is more." She didn't know if the other knew what power they wielded, and honestly, all she knew about it herself was that it sang with the same voice she'd come to know better than her own. She hoped, silently, that the other wouldn't call her bluff.

Rue's tenseness didn't go unnoticed, and the bear's muscles tightened in response, wired to kill. "Do you hear it?" She smiled, a challenge lingering somewhere between playful and murderous. If her guess was correct, Rue would know exactly what she meant, what she craved; what they both craved.

"speaking" and corruption

Tema was just looking for an excuse. Whether she was aware of it or not was no matter, because the second the other lashed out, her brain shut off.

Eyes glazed, the bear strode forward with exaggerated steps, slowly dipping her head down to lick at the oil. The smells of it... rancid. But it was exactly what she had been searching for, the only thing that could quell the ever-growing hunger.

She raised her eyes, hot as embers, to meet the other's... and she stared as her faced morphed, encasing itself in bark.

"speaking" and corruption

Oh how her soul screamed, how the voice of the Void sang in the back of her mind as her assailant continued, offering her every permission to fight back, to rend flesh from bone!
"Weird?!" She cried, "You feel the same urge, the same NEED!"
Once more she was reminded that there was no love in chaos, no friendship, no connection. There was only destruction. Fire and blood, panic and disorder. she would do her master proud, if this one would not. They were a false follower, mistakenly granted power if only for her to take it... and take it she would. Her stomach growled, or did that come from her throat?
Tema was unstable, a perfect conduit for the whispers of chaos as the corruption seeped in. Rue's magic was tainting her further, the pain of cold fire a distant thought as she descended upon Rue with frenzied swipes, each one of them a miss. She wasn't sure when she had started, but she found herself to be smiling.

"speaking" and corruption

Tema was sated, finally, as oily earth unsteadied her feet. She landed on her side, a heavy fall that made an equally loud 'thud,' followed by... Laughter?
Genuine laughter. It poured from the bear like Rue had just told the funniest joke in the caves, and Tema took her time getting back to her feet.
"Oh, that was fun!" She cried between panting breaths, teary-eyed. "You are a strange one, I think, controlling the hunger the way you do! But you are fun! Your magic is unlike anything I've seen!" Tema's legs were still unsteady given the oil-slick earth they now stood on, but she made a slow and careful effort to give Rue some space. The hunger she had felt, the ever-growing all-consuming hunger had been fed, be it by the oil she lapped up like a dehydrated dog or the magic that Rue had cast upon her. It left her calm, for a time.
"I didn't actually scare you, did I? That was quite the spar! A bit without warning though, don't you think? You should have just said you wanted to fight!" She laughed again, as if she hadn't just moments ago descended upon the other with a flurry of poorly placed swipes. It didn't matter much to her, honestly, if the other stayed or not. She was satisfied, and seeing one more attuned with the Void than she was (for now, of course) told her that there had to be something important nearby. Another altar, or a nest of corrupted lessers... She would have to look, someday soon.

"speaking" and corruption