The rhodonite chrysalis had sat next to the crystal river for longer then it should as the poor cat within had taken a while to reform. Perhaps she was scared to awaken again, fearing that, when she did, the crystal-dog would still be there, to ensure that her flesh stayed removed.
But nothing came to disturb her slumber and after a while, urgency in her subconsious awakened her to reality once again and the shell cracked open.
Groggily, Wilder peeled away the exterior of the chrysalis and slid onto the ground, fur reformed and skin back on her body, wet from the chrysalis fluids but very much there. She quickly checked herself over, a paw reaching to swipe over the places that Parthenium had ripped her flesh away, and found, thankfully, that it was all still there.
She breathed a sigh of relief and stood...and then swayed.
She should remove that flesh. It shouldn't be there. It had been removed and now it was back. She should take it off and leave it off. It only caused her pain.
She blinked. Why had she thought that? She glanced back, staring at her side. She itched to sink her claws into it and rip the skin away. Why?
Uncertainty welled up as she tried to think clearly, to rationalize her train of thought. But it felt like trying to trek through fog and mud, with each droplet of moisture weighing her down being another urge, another need to remove her flesh. Somewhere in there, she felt lonely. She felt weak. In a way she hadn't before. Not...not for a long time.
Horror overtook her. She twisted, trying to see if there was something in her fur. Had Parthenium left something behind? Her head suddenly snapped to the remains of her chrysalis and she dove forward, searching through it, moving the shards around and trying to find what she was looking for. But it hadn't appeared on the surface of her gemstone. No it was in her.
She mewed and cried in her panic as she rapidly inspected her body again, ears flat against her head as she pawed and scratched at herself, trying to find the source, trying to find where the crystal spikes were poking through her skin but found nothing. She needed to get it out! Where was it? Where was it?!
Jinyi stopped in his tracks.
Although he passed through Polaris often, either on his way to one of the Hive-infected rooms or as part of his mission to distribute Dontas, this was a sight he hadn't expected or ever seen before. That black cat—wasn't she the one who'd blown up something and nearly blinded Ananke in Gemini? No, not nearly. She really had blinded the poor little rabbit, until they'd managed to heal her.
She didn't look nearly so threatening now, small and panicking and surrounded by pink gemstone shards. Recently emerged from a chrysalis? For a moment Jinyi just watched her mewl, struggle with something, and panic with a sort of dark satisfaction. Perhaps this was her retribution for hurting someone equally as small and far more gentle and harmless than herself. But it was also confusing. What was she panicking over? She should have emerged from her chrysalis healed from whatever put her in it. Was it something he needed to be worried about as well?
Along with his curiosity, there was the whisper of an opportunity here. Perhaps relations with a formerly hostile Gembound could be mended, if he helped with whatever this was. That was why Mother had let them retreat from Gemini unscathed, after all, even after everything they did. And it was his job to do outreach for the Hive. Fine, then. Jinyi approached the little cat but did not crouch down to speak to her—he wanted to be able to run easily if she attacked him again. Instead he remained standing over her, and asked: "What's going on?" His voice came out with much less than usual of his normal performed warmth. Jinyi breathed slowly and reminded himself to try harder the next time he opened his mouth.
@Wilder
Wilder didn't notice Jinyi approach, so concerned with her own predicament and her heart throbbing so loudly in her ears that she didn't even realize he was there until his voice made her freeze. Her head whipped around and gazed at the Drone, recognition clouding her gaze.
She remembered. Yes, she'd seen him at the fighting. But, oddly, Wilder did not feel any sort of hostility. She only felt relief. Someone was here! She wasn't alone anymore. She didn't want him to leave.
She was confused. She couldn't think straight. For a moment she gave into it and looked up at Jinyi with large eyes.
If she showed weakness, he would infect her.
He watched as the cat whipped around, stared silently, shook herself, and then speak words that went through several drastically different attitudes in phases. Something is wrong with me? Yes, he could tell. If it was something that afflicted the mind, perhaps he was safer than she was with Mother there to reel him in. He still had no idea what was wrong with her and why exactly she was acting like this, though. Jinyi itched to open a neuro-network between their minds and feel for himself, but... that probably wasn't a wise choice with her threats.
He took a risk and crouched down to Wilder's level. Maybe it would reassure her. "If you want me to stay with you," he began slowly, making sure to modulate his voice to be warmer, friendlier, harmless. Like he didn't hold a grudge. Like the fact she'd attacked his family had been nothing personal. "I can. What you're going through must be scary to face alone." Not that Jinyi would know anything about facing anything alone. Thankfully. "But if you don't let me 'try anything'," he spread his hands in a shrug, "I also can't try anything that might let me help you. I don't think that would be helpful for either of us, then. But I can promise I won't feed you the Hive's fungus, since you don't want to." Jinyi did actually mean it. From Mother's memories and his discussion with Pride, he'd come to the conclusion that force-feeding fungus to people wasn't a great way to make friends. He'd still do it in appropriate situations, but he did not feel that right now was one. "Why don't you tell me more about what's going on?"
@Wilder
She flinched back as the Drone got down on her level, but she forced herself not to hiss. He didn't seem like he was being dangerous or pushy...he seemed rather friendly, actually, although his reassurance only did so much to smooth her concerns. She shook her head, ears pressing close to her head.
But...she would try. Because her issues right now were more important and he was offering help and, frankly, she didn't care about his own probably selfish reasoning. She shook her head out again.
She waved a paw, unable to describe it any further, and an image of Parthenium appeared next to her.
Okay. So this cat had just threatened to kill him. That was... fine. It took some effort, but that blithe smile stayed glued to his expression. What did a chip salesman care if the customers were difficult sometimes? It was just part of the job. Stay smiling, stay pleasant, stay helpful and maybe they'll buy it in the end.
"Okay," he said pleasantly. "I won't give you the Hive fungus." Thankfully they were moving on to the actually relevant topic, which was—a green crystal dog? A frown rippled across his face for the first time as Wilder conjured up an actual image of the thing. "I haven't seen this." Wilder was being frustratingly unspecific about what exactly happened, which wasn't helping, but while he might've had less patience if it was just about helping her—someone who was, in the end, still an enemy in his eyes—this held his attention. This could be a threat to others, even to the Hive. Or it could even be useful, if they figured out how to use it.
"What did it do to you?" he asked in what he hoped was a gentle tone. "Did it cast some sort of magic? Can you describe these... urges you're feeling? Do you think they're similar to the effects of Corruption or Order?" (Not, Jinyi wanted to be clear, that he thought Order was in anyway comparable to Corruptive urges or whatever this crystal dog was. He was simply trying to make comparisons that would be easier for Wilder to describe.)
@Wilder
She tried to remember, what had it done to her that had caused this? She shook her head out, as if the urges were bugs she just needed to scare off.
Oh. Oh. Fear pulsed through her as she realized and made the connection.
She looked up at Jinyi, nearly hysterical with fear. The image of herself, a crystalline zombie like Parthenium, flashed in her mind.
Well, this was disturbing. Mother, are you hearing this? Jinyi thought, reaching out for her attention on this matter. Some of it sounded like it could almost directly target the Hive: death is a lie could have been a purposely negative interpretation of Iterations and don't leave me alone also seemed suspicious. On the other hand, tearing off one's own skin was something both horrifying and something Jinyi didn't know what to attribute to. He almost wanted just to... let Wilder be affected by whatever it was. After all, whatever turned a self-admitted would-be enemy of the Hive into not that could benefit them. But the self-destructive urges... that could be dangerous, if the infection spread to a Hive member in the future. Wasn't it better to try to learn about it and experiment to see what methods of removing it, if any, would work?
He inhaled sharply as Wilder's panic seemed to heighten and she pawed desperately at her own gem. "What- stop!" She isn't really going to start clawing her skin off, is she? Without thinking through it, his hand shot out to try to pull her claws away and hold them still. It would be really unhelpful for both of them if she chrysalized or somehow managed to kill herself before they'd figured anything out. Then he saw the line of something dark green glinting just under her fur. A different stone? This was more and more horrifying information he didn't know what to do with.
Jinyi could hardly think with both his own uneasiness and Wilder's panicked questions battling for attention. "I see it. It looks like crystals from the dog you showed me." Not Order or Chaos but a third force? Whatever it was, the Hive had to know whether it was a threat (it seemed likely) and how to deal with it (he had no idea).
Focus. Think. First, the foreign crystals. "I can try to physically remove the crystals. They may have something to do with it." 'May' was generous; they almost certainly did. Siren had had a similar operation, he remembered, although what afflicted her mentally was just the familiar compulsion toward symmetry and not some mysterious third force. The operation had also gone quite badly, but, well. Surely a cat who'd inflicted so much suffering on his family could endure some pain herself if it came to that?
A second idea. "I can also try to overwhelm the compulsions you're feeling with Ordered thoughts instead. It will not connect you to the Hive," he added quickly, expecting an angry rejection otherwise, "and it will only last a few moments. It's just magic that will make you want symmetry and order around you instead of... ripping your own skin off." If she agreed to this, the success of it could also hint at whether the Hive would be more resistant or equally as susceptible as natural Gembound.
Unless Mother had any more ideas, that was all Jinyi could think of. But--"Whatever you want me to try or not, if anything works--you have to swear you won't hurt anyone else in the Hive like you did in Gemini ever again." An intensity rare for the Drone crept into his speech. "You burned Ananke--the white rabbit, who never did anything to hurt you--so badly she went blind. If you go right back to being our enemy and attacking our family without whatever clingy urges you're feeling right now, I will do my best to kill you." Wilder wasn't the only one who could make first-time death threats. Jinyi almost flinched from his own words--but he would he thought viciously. If she made him responsible for helping an enemy and setting it on his own family, he would take responsibility for his own actions.
@Wilder also GM tagged for Mother's opinion on the epidote
Mother's presence was unsteady in this place. The Core's energies didn't sustain the Hive. She was unsettled by Jinyi's choice to remain here, to not only pass through the Core but to pause and converse with one who had harmed the Hive. Despite, perhaps, being one of her long-lost children. But her warnings threaded through his mind always: she could not send help, here. His powers would be nigh useless, here. Polaris was not for the Hive.
Still... through his eyes, she examined Wilder. She recognized what she saw, and knowledge--no, memories--flickered to Jinyi. The Hive was comprised of so many beings, so many drones and Praetors and Lessers, that not every drone could know or remember all things at once. But some of those Lessers had been claimed by this infection.
Some, accidentally.
Others, later... deliberately, so that Mother could more clearly define what they were working with.
The oily, gleaming crystals, slick in the cave wall as though with black blood. Not Oilstone. A paw reached out, mindless, tentative, controlled.
Writhing. Agony. Delicious. Destructive. Claws peeling at flesh, blood spattering the tunnel floor. This had been kept from the Hive, for it was suffering.
The stone. One hive mind, weaker, warring with Mother's. Drives not the Hive's own, pushing this small, wretched, emaciated creature into self-destruction. Starvation. Blind-eyed horror--was it the epidote that had done this, or was it already a lesser servant of the Hive, one that was dying in service to it? This one was squeezing into a hole in the wall, too small to fit, desperately trying to reach a piece of epidote within. It died there, trapped, still struggling to press in further.
Knowledge, on the heels of all this: it could still be removed. If Wilder were still flesh and blood, it could still be removed. Painfully, perhaps.
And if it were left to grow? There would be no flesh and blood. Nothing for Wilder; nothing for the Hive, for that matter, or anyone else to claim. She would become stone, and horror to serve that stone.
"It is a crueller hive than ours," Mother's voice whispered. No warmth, no cooperation, no greater goal, no family. Only a virus, a disease, to claim, to spread and to destroy. "Tell her that this information... is a gift. From Mother."
@Jinyi
Jinyi flinched back as a flux of memories was passed to his mind, visions of Lessers suffering and dying in cruel, blind agony. What was this infection? How could it overcome the Hive's control like this? Why did it drive these creatures to mindless self-mutilation and self-destruction?
When he looked at Wilder again, it was as though he was seeing a dead cat walking. It would be her fate, too, if nothing was done about it. He knew this with certainty. He had seen it with--not his own eyes, but the Hive had seen it with its own eyes. He had to stand up and back away a few steps. After that--he could barely stand to be near her, if that was what she'd become.
"I spoke with Mother." If Wilder doubted his honesty, at least she could hear that the horror in his voice was real. "She gives you this information as a gift: If not removed, this infection will drive you to tear yourself to pieces. You will become crystal, part of the infection, connected to a hive that is crueller than ours."
@Wilder