ORIGIN - [CoR] Silent Night

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(a christmas thing for cor. what will we do? idk but we're gonna have fun doin it)
@Dragon @Talat @Ghanyarah
@Czernobog

(trust me it fits perfectly)

Life was going pretty swimmingly for the crow. Turns out being a mom, although a lot of responsibility, was working out surprisingly well for her. Sure, Oliver was a handful, but he gave her things to do rather than napping all day. It was almost like she didn't even miss sleeping. Not at all. Nope.

Aquarian's children were alive and well - sure, Dragon's leg was busted and Bog had a nice rotting hole in his chest, but no one had died. Tal'at was happy, Bog seemed pretty content and hopefully, Dragon wouldn't go on another suicide quest to climb the spire. Hopefully.

Everything was quiet now. The mist lingered in the air, but it was almost comforting to her now. Everyone was content. The lights around the room were dim and flickering; perhaps nearing close to completely shutting off. Around now, most would be napping - there was no point in hunting or doing anything when the lights cut off - it was pointless to try and be awake when the room was pitch-black. Not that you could barely see anything to begin with in Cetus.

But something was most definitely missing.

Eve stretched her wings and turned on the muddy rock she perched on. She had been preparing to nap with her son, when the feeling jolted her awake. She had to do something. Though what, she had absolutely no idea.

Behind her, though now in front of her as she turned, was her sworn enemy. The Divine. Ghanyarah had called it the Art Tree, but Eve much preferred 'The Tree of All-Consuming Death and Destruction.' Perhaps Aquarian was melodramatic and overreacting about Nemean, so much so that he forgot about the true horrible murderer in his swamp.

She was gonna beat the shit out of the Divine. But there was more to that. She had to insult it. Embarass it. She'd emotionally ruin it's tragic, tragic life as a stoic tree and gloat over it, victorious.

But for now, she stared at it, perhaps thoughtfully, quiet.

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Up the channel of dark water crept a large and heavy beast. Ridged tail briefly arced from the surface, and the reptilian head bobbed up, eyelids retracting.

For a moment, the hunting alligator regarded the tree with distaste. It was evil. This was the tree that had attacked them, the screaming souls at its roots rumbling the cave, threatening Cetus. He didn't know what to do with the Divine, hadn't asked Aquarian--... Wait, what was this?

He huffed as he peered over the water, a rumbling hiss of vapor. Atop a muddy rock just ahead perched a bird--food? A Caller, come too low? ...No, he saw: it was Eve, quietly gazing at the tree.

He came up alongside her, unused to seeing her motionless, or moreso, hearing her so silent.

"What are you doing?" he asked, gliding to a floating stop a few feet away.

Caves, he hated this tree.

{ art by dark } ~ { table by aura . edited by banshee and dark }

It must have been a crazy coincidence that everybody had decided to go visit the Divine today. Even Ghanyarah found his lil lizard feet taking him to the great and weird tree; most if not all of the Children of Rot seemed to hold resentment for the tree, but Ghanyarah had a special place in his heart for it. Sure it was kind of murderous and unpredictable (strange attributes for a tree) but it had given him his name. He didn't know where the name came from. He remembered being told that most Gembounds received their names when they hatched, but he hadn't the opportunity. He pretty much skipped that tutorial and went straight to the first boss fight, which was running for his life from a big hungry bobkitten.

Then he visited the tree. He drew himself in it and it whispered to him. Memories of lives past, memories of visitors, unfortunate fates; a name that someone had lost. Ghanyarah must have been lucky enough for the tree to take pity on him. He visited it when he could, carving more into the bark of the tree. Each drawing was superficial, it could vanish with a flake of the tree's thick bark, but they remained none the less. There was him, and he'd added Dragon, and Eve, and Talat, and Czernobog, and even a crude sketch of Willow despite seeing her only a few times. His most recent addition was Netil.

The lizard was headed to the tree now when he'd spotted Dragon, then Eve. "Whats going on?" Ghanyarah flicked his tongue as he approached. He didn't know why, but the sight of his friends had spawned a sort of jollyness in his heart. There was a cloud of coldness shrouding the komodo, condensing the humid air. With a small breeze, a handful of snowflakes sprinkled the small gathering with the dragon's approach. The sight of the glittering crystals, an absent minded product of the komodo, made him smile.

@Netil

The crow was silent, staring at the tree. She didn't notice Dragon or Ghanyarah approach until they actually spoke, and she turned her head to Dragon, first. "I'm thinking," she said simply, looking back at the tree. "I'm gonna do something."

The crow glanced down at Ghanyarah. "I'm gonna beat the shit out of it," she announced, feathers fluffing up as beads of snow began hitting her, little white patches appearing on her inky-black feathers. She turned her gaze back to the Divine, head tilting.

"I don't know how to, yet." There were many things Eve could do to the tree, along with kicking and pecking the bark in a violent and 'mild-inconvenience for the tree' way. She could scream at it, to establish dominance. Alternatively, she could light it up. Maybe the tree would get all shy because it'd stick out like a beacon of light in Cetus.

She ruffled her feathers to keep herself warm, sealing silent as she continued to think.

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@Dragon @Ghanyarah @Talat @Czernobog @Netil

Dragon growled his faint agreement, and before anyone could speak further, he'd suddenly turned and dropped heavily back into the black water.

"I have an idea. I will return shortly," he growled.

And boy, did he. He was going to go and get a dead deer, or two. They'd show this tree what they were made of--after they'd draped it with the rotting entrails of their prey. This tree was nothing but meat. Nothing but dead, if they willed it so! And they would SHOW IT as much.

Just as soon as he got back with the dead deer, that was.

With a swish of his ridged tail and a low and guttural hiss he was gone, drifting off down the marsh's channel toward the Heart of Cetus, and Aquarian's offering pile beyond.

{ art by dark } ~ { table by aura . edited by banshee and dark }

Czernobog sat in the mouth of his cave, a spider hanging limply between his jowls, its carapace crunching under the weight of massive yellowed teeth. He'd been roaming the swamp for the past few days, keeping an almost too-watchful eye on Isi, even though his daughter had long since grown big enough to defend herself. It was only right - the boar was on-edge, twitchy since the meeting. His magic kept wanting to surge again, but always from the broken tusk, never from the whole.

Still, the base connection to the plantlife of Cetus remained, and it was showing a hotspot near one of the trees. The pig slowly rose, shambling towards the gathering - could be easy food, or maybe intruders. He welcomed the former, but the latter, well... hard to defend much of anything with your lungs on display.

Thankfully the only Gembounds that came into view once he reached the odd tree were his family - Hat and the icy lizard brother-uncle. Czernobog trotted forwards, only to plop down on his rump next to Eve, lowering his nose to snuffle at her, breath ruffling her feathers. He did the same to Ghanyarah, sans feather-rufflage, and then dropped the spider from his mouth, licking his chops when it landed with a wet thump.

"Meeeeeeeting, Haaaaat?" Two Rots a meeting did not make, but they had a tendency to group together.

Ghanyarah tilted his head slightly when the crow said that she was gonna do something, and then croaked out of alarm as she added that she was gonna beat it up. "Wait! You can't beat it up, its the Divine! What if it does something bad to you?" He added skeptically, taking a few steps forward as he glanced between his alligator brother and the bird. But Dragon didn't seem so bothered by this - in fact, he delivered that he had an idea, and just as quickly turned, disappearing back into the murk of the swamp. "I really don't think you should beat the tree up." Ghanyarah reiterated as he focused back on the crow.

Not long after another of their group had arrived. Announced with the sloshing of fluids in his chest, Ghanyarah turned to see the zombie pig approach. As the boar snuffled over him, Ghanyarah instinctively raised himself up, extending his limbs to make him appear larger - he didn't know why, it must have been a reptile thing - and flicked his tongue. "Eve wants to beat the tree up." Ghanyarah repeated for the third time now, looking at Czernobog. "And how exactly are you gonna do that?" He finally looked back at the crow, skeptical.

Ever since Dragon returned to Cetus, it seemed as though the children of Aquarian had gone through anabiosis. The lifeless marsh was brimming with energy now, and Tal'at found himself following wherever his senses led him. Even without focusing much, the bat drew instinctively towards the dull drum of his companions. When they all gathered like this-- even in small numbers-- he took notice.

Today he didn't fly in blindly, however. Instead, he led In'am towards the Divine, resting on her back and petting at her legs in the direction he wished to go. It was a bit clumsy, and In'am was prone to complaining about being out in the open instead of in the muck, but it was much better than crashing into trees constantly. Soon enough, his bright blue friend crawled up on to one of the Divine's roots, and he stared through her eyes at the gathered group.

"... What is happening?" He chirped, head tilting. "Eve better not... Not hurt herself." His disapproval voiced, he tried to figure out just what they were doing here, besides fighting a tree for some reason.

Briefly, Eve touched her beak against Bog's snout, nodding at the zombie pig. "It's not a meeting." She then turned her to Tal'at. She scowled somewhat, shaking her head. "I'm not gonna hurt myself!"

She turned back to the tree, seemingly regarding to Ghanyarah with her next words. "It's already done bad things to me!" the crow protested, talon lifting to scratch the side of her head. "I know exactly what I'm gonna do." And with that, the crow was off. She fluttered up onto a branch on the Divine and squinted at the branch.

She reached out abruptly and touched a leaf. She had intended to make it shiny, glow in the mist, but nothing happened. So, instead, she pulled away and instead sat, perched on the Divine. To her, she had successfully established dominance over this tree. It was her tree now.

Fuck this tree. She nodded slightly and looked down at Bog and Ghanyarah. "I have defeated it," she announced proudly, chest puffed up proudly.

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As soon as Eve landed on the tree, it gave a great shudder, as though the tree were sighing in exasperation. The leaf that Eve touched falls off and floats gently to the ground. Then it instantly wilts. Nothing else happens.

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