ORIGIN

Carrie andwered Fallah and Fallah listened intently. She said he- the lord- was a maggot, like the whote doe had said. Farrah wondered what white doe she was talking about. Carrie said that she will not hurt Farrah and that when her child hatched, she would leave. Farrah looked to the crystal, "When? When does he hatch and where will you go? Must you run, or can this lord... can he be stopped?" Maybe someone could talk to him. Farrah didn't even know what a lord was, but she was sure he could be talked to!

Another creature approached. He didn't seem like the lord, so he probably wasn't here to fight. Farrah's tail wagged, as she looked to the stranger. He asked Carrie why she was sad. Ooh, he knew her name. Were they friends? Farrah liked friends! Carrie answered saying, "Because... I am, to many lies." Farrah did not know what she meant and looked at her quizzically, "Many lies?" she repeated, her head tilting. She looked back to the large dog thing, the tip of her pink tongue sticking out between her lips.

Khloros half-ambled, half-stalked slowly along, empty gaze lingering on Carrie as he slid past her.

"Lies...? You do not look like lies. You look like a small, brown thing that has not eaten enough. If you are lies, then do not be lies anymore." It seemed a simple enough solution to him, in part because he didn't understand how someone could be lies.

He turned his gaze next to the other-brown-thing that had spoken, the smaller, fluffier, redder one. She was a cute thing, something he wanted to curl beside and use for warmth or stomp out until it was fur strewn over rock. He blinked vaguely at this last image, pushing it aside; he wasn't a violent creature. Maybe he was just imagining a blanket...?

He moved around behind the dog, sniffing her vaguely. He didn't release his disease upon them; he felt the skinny one could use it, perhaps, a release, but at the same time, he was curious.

"You speak of a lord. Is he winged, and antlered?" He was assuming it to be Rafael, someone he had not spoken to in some time, and who had definitely considered himself a Lord above all others, different from the rest. Did that mean that Carrie, too, was different, if the lord had designated her of his kind?

Khloros looked back at her, but at first glance, he could see nothing particularly unusual. Sure, one of her legs was pale, and she was bony, but then... he'd never understood Rafael's reasoning, to begin with.

Perhaps the creature had just been mad.

Maybe he should plague him. Or at the very least, see and speak to him again.

"Is this Lord creating a problem for you?" he asked at last, pausing to face the two with an unnatural stillness.

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

Farrah smiled warmly at the tiny friend as she spoke. She didn't know what else to do to be reassuring. When she finished speaking, Farrah decided it was her turn, "I'll tell you not a lie- I like you. How about I stay here with you until your child is born? Then we can go to the waterfall room. If the lord comes then... Well, I can run pretty fast anyway." Farrah licked her nose again. She didn't want to leave her small friend alone to watch until the rock hatched. Maybe once they got to the waterfall cave, Carrie could be happy.

The horse watched Carrie with vague, detached interest.

Bearing a child. Suffering. A lord, causing her pain...? He wasn't sure about this last, but it was the impression he got, no matter how faint.

"Where is Lord Hasira now?" he asked, mildly. He didn't seem overly interested. In fact, he didn't seem anything: just a thought, an impulse, a stranger passing through.

Khloros had learned a few things in his short life. First was that there was suffering, and abuse, and betrayal. Destruction and pain. Second, that he was capable of stopping it. Through the plague and death, through manipulation of his own.

The other thing, of course... was that he had nothing better to do.

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BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

Carrie faced Farrah now and Farrah offered another closed-lips smile. She said it would be nice. It would be nice. Farrah's tail wagged, "Yes, it would be, so will you do it? Will you let me stay here, then will you come with me?" she asked honestly. Farrah wasn't even sure why, nor did she wonder why she wanted the creature's happiness, she just did. She wanted Carrie to be happy. She wanted Carrie to feel warm and loved.