ORIGIN

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Wilder stayed still for a long time, so so did Parthenium. It no longer had eyelids to shut but it leaned into her touch all the same, comforted by the weight of her paw on its forehead. It was a while before either moved or spoke.

When Wilder finally lowered her paw, Parthenium lowered her head to rest on top of it, unwilling to give up this contact. Wilder was a bit perplexing—hadn't it already answered that question?—but it was easy, so it answered again.

"Find others and hold them close. So no one will ever die alone. Get stronger. So it will never fail and fall again. Remove the flesh. So weakness and pain cannot touch you." It scooted closer. And closer. Eyeless, epidote-filled sockets looked up at Wilder, wide and hopeful. Was it finally time that she would let it help remove her flesh? "Cccuuuhhh. Ccccccan I start removing?"

F E V E R F E W
Will you stay with me?

@Wilder

Wilder stared at Parthenium, horror rising in her gut. She...she should, right? She had to help him. She...she....

NO. No of course not! It was talking about removing her flesh. It was talking about killing her, making her a spiky zombie just like it was. With no mind left, just these base instincts, whose influence had hurt her friends hurt her family hurt her...

But...

To help it, I have to let it do what it needs. It was an idea so deeply rooted in her core right now, that she could not sway herself from it. She could not pull rationality or reasoning out from that belief. Truly, what Parthenium needed to feel better, the right thing to do for this gembound (was it even a gembound anymore?) was let it...remove her flesh.

She tried to resist it. But Hume's madness was unrelenting. It burned at the corner of her visions, pushing her forward. Because she knew in her heart, now, this was what she could do to help here. It had told her so. What she had been searching for, it wasn't simply a desire it was a need. A driving need.

She didn't know what would happen if she did it - would it be happy? Would it feel better? Would it be saved? She knew what would happen to her of course, she'd seen it already. But to Parthenium?

Her eyes squeezed shut, trying to block the madness out, but it was growing painful. Do it. Do it. DO IT. She nodded. She was tense and scared, her fur was puffed, but she couldn't resist. She had to. She HAD TO OR SHE WOULD GO MAD.

She nodded to Parthenium without a word, and rested her head in her paws, covering her cheek with her hand. Perhaps she could survive this.

@Parthenium have fun

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

gore

violence

The nod was all Parthenium needed to proceed. With her permission, it was reassured that Wilder would not leave it alone, no matter what kind of violence proceeded. And was it violence, really? It might take a lot of physical effort, but it was just helping its new friend :)

Slowly, delicately, it tucked its snout into Wilder's shoulder. Soft fur. The stink of flesh. She would no longer be burdened with these things once it had helped her. It opened its mouth and sank its teeth into her flesh. Blood dribbled into its mouth, blood that it could no longer taste now that its tongue and taste buds had entirely been replaced with black-green crystal. It placed its forepaws on either side, holding the little cat down and bracing itself. Then, teeth still clenched, it threw its head back and to the side, ripping off a chunk of flesh. More blood spilled onto the ground, soaking into its shaggy white fur. It leaned back in and gnawed at the edge of the wound it had just made, close to her ribs. Those were hard, invulnerable things, unfortunately covered by a layer of weak fur and skin. It tugged and ripped, trying to separate all this weakness from Wilder. A paw scraped at the exposed bone, trying to remove the last vestiges of red. It moved on to Wilder's head now, teeth gripping at the skin of her forehead and tugging, tugging, tugging. It chewed at her ears. Too delicate! They ripped easily and came off. Good thing she was rid of them now.

Wilder's tense muscles and the pitiful noises she made reminded Parthenium of something important. As long as it was not finished, she was still vulnerable to pain. It whined softly and nuzzled her, reassuring. "It will be done soon. We won't leave you alone." A fluffy tail reached over and wiped the blood from Wilder's face off with its own fur. Then, with its snout still nuzzled into Wilder's fur, it bit again. Gnawed again. Ripped again. It moved with a determined speed and efficiency, flinging spatters of blood and bits of flesh onto the nearby ground with the violence of its motions. The faster it achieved this, the sooner Wilder would be free. It would continue with this frenzied determination, suffering no trace of flesh to remain on the cat's body, until stopped by either Wilder or the rapid expansion of her stone as it took her back into the embrace of her chrysalis.

F E V E R F E W
Will you stay with me?

@Wilder

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

gore

It was so gentle at first, like the soft nuzzle of a friend. And for a foolish moment Wilder really hoped that's all that was going to happen.

But then teeth sank into her skin and it was gone.

She screamed. She cried. She tried to stop herself because this was supposed to help Parthenium but she couldn't stop herself. It hurt so much, so much, she wondered if she had EVER felt agony like this before. She tried to bear it but she couldn't. Survival instincts suddenly kicked in and she tried to tear herself away because how could she be so stupid so STUPID FOOLISH CAT FOOLISH IDIOT SUICIDAL CAT!!

But Parthenium had a hold on her. She couldn't move. It was intent on removing her fur her flesh her blood muscle and bone, cleaning her skeleton until nothing remained but this agony.

The pain, suddenly, muted as darkness enveloped her. And Wilder blinked open her eyes, finding herself gazing down at Parthenium and her poor, shredded body, covered in blood and gore and barely breathing. She didn't know what to feel but panic as the arcane phantom currently holding her psyche gazed down at her dying body as the crystalline dog continued to do what it promised, removing her flesh little by little. She was still held by a thread and she couldn't tell how far removed she was, for she still felt the pain, like it was happening to her very far away. But she still felt the distress of this torture.

Had she hoped that it had meant something else? That it truly hadn't meant this? Was this...thing what had driven her before? What if it had taken over her back then, when she had been close to Aure, when they had been children and she had little defenses against its overwhelming influence? She...she had to stop it. She HAD to stop it.

But she didn't know how! She had learned so little from her talk with Parthenium. What was she to do?

Right now, there was nothing to do, but watch as her poor body was mutilated beyond belief. Yet she held out, held out until the very end, because she was helping Parthenium, right? She was helping...she was helping...she was doing the right thing....

She could feel herself fading. The magnolet-streaked rhodonite was crawling over her cheek, cradling her head, encasing her body in its protective embrace. She stared at Parthenium in her last moments, terrified of it, unsure of what she had done. Had she helped? Had she done anything at all?

At least...her. It had been her and not somebody else, right?

*Exit to chrysalis

@Parthenium

Wilder will wake up in two weeks changed. The epidote infection advances as her flesh is removed. In the chrysalis, it is free to burrow deeper and upon emerging, she will find tendrils of epidote burrowing out from where it cradles her gemstone. Urges will pull at her - remove the flesh. Become stronger. Find others.

Wilder has become Gemscarred.

You are safe now.

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

violence

At some point the cat stopped screaming, which Parthenium interpreted as its efforts to remove her source of pain working. This galvanized it and it proceeded in its efforts with renewed determination. It was surprised by the sudden growth of rhodonite that expanded over Wilder's body, pushing it away and forming a round chrysalis. It had not thought that it had finished removing all the flesh yet, but suddenly there was smooth stone where all the flesh had been.

Nevertheless, it considered its efforts a success. It laid down next to the chrysalis—it would fulfill its promise, now, not to leave her alone. Because no one should die alone :)

@Wulfsige

Wulfsige patrolled Polaris as he often did, discontent as he often was. Gemini and Eridanus still remained ensnared by Order. Fighting back properly required numbers and strategy and when facing Order, which was by it's very nature a unified front, that proved to be difficult. Made even more so by Wulfsige's somewhat lackluster social skills.

Today seems like nothing out of the ordinary- Polaris is, as always, stable, unwelcoming to both Chaos and Order. But, in the distance, by the river, he sees.. someone? They're hunched over, dark crystals jutting out from ragged white fur, too plentiful to just be the gemstone that gave them life. Its hard to tell what they are, or what they're doing, so he instinctively reaches out with magic as he closes the distance.

[perms to double-post granted. for science]

He got close enough to see the crystal-infect dog was mauling someone.

Someone familiar.

He only gets a glimpse of the black fur and the pink gemstone on her cheek before she's consumed by it completely. He feels shame that he was not quick enough and rage that this creature- gembound- whatever it was and whatever side of the Eternal War it skewed to- would do this and expect no consequence. That it would simply lay down next to its victim and rest.

He couldn't allow that.

He would crash down upon Parthenium, a force of violent retribution as a wordless snarl ripped through the air. He would try to pin it to the ground before it even had a chance to stagger to its feet, no chance to escape his vengeance. He would be startled to find how rigid Parthenium was- nothing but jagged crystals covering a decaying pelt. He recoiled.

ROUND 1

ATTEMPT: Pin down Parthenium
DEFENSE: Wolf
INJURIES: none

@Parthenium

Wulfsige's senses caught wind of two sources of radiation, both of which gleamed with the familiar feeling of Natural Order and, in the case of Wilder's chrysalis, the sparkling pink and gold sheen of what Wulfisge would remember as Autonomy, which existed on all creatures but, for her, was heightened.

There was nothing else here, or anything that was unfamiliar to him.

@Wulfsige

Parthenium was spacing out, not really paying attention to its surroundings at all. It basked in the satisfaction of another one's flesh removed, who would soon become one with them. Imagine its surprise when another Gembound came crashing in, bowling it over and pinning it to the ground!

What a party! Parthenium reveled in the closeness of the snarling wolfdog, and caught the stench of his flesh still unfortunately attached to its bones. It did not attempt to throw him off--why would it do that when he had so kindly come to keep it company? It would extend a friendly welcome, head twisting toward Wulfsige's flesh, a crystal tendril rapidly extending from where its tongue would have been, seeking to sink itself into his flesh.

F E V E R F E W
Will you stay with me?

@Wulfsige trying a fun new trick where i let YOU decide what happens after the roll result (and aura farm by avoiding it super cooly if it fails) instead of editing my post; Round 1
Attempt: sink a crystal tendril into Wulfsige's flesh
Defense: being fleshless
Injuries: not yet, put pinned down

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Parthenium

Wilder

Parthenium

Wilder

Game Master Jaymie

Parthenium

Wulfsige

Wulfsige

Game Master Jaymie

Parthenium