ORIGIN - If Nightmares were Real

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Something about that voice changed. Her ears tilted backward as the sound of wings entered the air and she yelped in surprised as clawed feet perched upon her shoulders. She stepped forward, then heard it. The painful familiarity of that voice rang inside her head and bounced off her skull like an echo among cave walls. No, life was certainly not fair, and as Dia buried her disastrous beak into Penelope's flesh, she released a blood curdling scream.

Penelope bolted, no longer giving a damn about where she was going or what she would run into. Her long legs carried her heavy body with ease... at first. Then something became amiss. A back leg suddenly gave way, leaving her with three legs. Her other hind leg fell from under her as well, which caused her forelegs to twist under her as she flew toward the ground like a train that lost it's wheels. A trail of dust remained in the air behind her after her skid came to a halt.

"No, no, NO!" She cried out and began to lift herself up, only to immediately collapse. Something was wrong. Something was so horribly fucking wrong. Little by little, her body became a useless heap of meat. She squirmed in the final moments of her strength, a whimper being the finishing touch as her head collapsed to the ground, her entire body now paralyzed. Blinking didn't even seem possible, her breath felt hitched. The only untampered muscle was her heart, which raced with fear and adrenaline.

Tears rolled uncontrollably from her eyes as she stared into the abyss of her blindness. Voice now gone, unable to call for help, unable to plead for mercy. She couldn't even properly sob or shiver as every single ounce of her felt the fear and pain. Her body was a prison. This had been a trap, and she was certain she would never trust again, especially not birds. For now, though, she had bigger things to worry about, like... Oh gods, gods... what is she going to do to me?

- - -

"Speech"
@Dianysma

As she drove her beak into the cut, blood already began to spurt about her face, painting her pale feathers crimson, dark as her bright red eyes. Feeling the tapir bolt and move quickly, the raven flapped her wings and followed with a malicious hunger surging through her. It was only a matter of time before she became too weak to resist the fall. Surely enough, it succeeded. Flopped on her side and breathing quickly, Penelope was weakened. But she'd feel all of the pain that she was about to inflict upon her, about to destroy her with.

"You're so naïve, fooled by the same vile creature twice," she cooed as she perched upon the shoulder of the fallen tapir, claws tempted to sink into the skin of the clubfooted beast. "Why is that, I wonder. You place your trust in the first Gembound to call themselves a friend, dear." Pastel beak shifted into a cruel grin as she grazed the tip across the curves of the tapir's shoulders. "Why don't you ever learn?" Suddenly, she jabbed her beak into flesh, splashing herself with blood once again. She reveled in it, and she waited for the silent gasping and wheezing before she slowly and painfully drew it out.

@Penelope

Words from the pale bird cut into her before her beak ever did. Penelope felt stupid and, in fact, was positively certain she was the truest moron to be found in these caves. Learn... she would learn from this if she survived it. Of course, she was certain Dia was only planning to kill her in the most agonizing way possible, feeling her idea of it solidify as the beak penetrated her skin and entered her flesh.

Breathing grew weaker as her need to scream rushed into her mind. Nausea settled in her gut, but not a muscle in her body would be able to force it up, so instead, it seemed to slowly trickle into her esophagus in preparation for that moment. More tears filled her eyes and soaked her face, ground below it growing into a spot of mud, which would surely be bigger by the end of this.

The feeling of warm blood splashing over her own skin was horrifying, as if the pain just wasn't enough. Penelope wanted to scream out so badly, but instead, was only able to in her mind. Louie... Louie! Gods, ow, please. She's killing me... SHE'S KILLING ME! She hoped that, somehow, Louie would hear her and... oh, but who was she kidding? He said it himself; you can't trust anyone, and she couldn't even find it in her heart to believe Merry Men would ever help her, now.

- - -

"Speech"
@Dianysma | @Louie via link (do not have him intervene just yet, but reaction post is a-ok)

Things had been working out well. All the life that he had lost in his months in these tubular caverns had almost been stored to be forced back into him again when he was within his chrysalis. Perhaps he should adopt that as a cleansing strategy? Destroy his body till he was nothing more than a limp vessel and let his gemstone work to regenerate. Truthfully, he wasn't sure how many more times he had that supposed ability. It wasn't something he had seen more than once or twice in his lifetime.

Today was no different to every other day, he tracked back through the familiar tunnels as he thought about what was the next step in his grand plan. Too many creatures were becoming aware of his skills too quickly. Yes, he wanted his name spoken in whispers. To become the feared, through his dangerous methods. Not through blatantly honking on about how herbivores were better than carnivores like Hasira did. No, Hasira had been stupid. Louie wouldn't let his name be tarnished like that.

On the fishing wire that connected him to Penelope, a state that it seemed to take during periods of lull, he could begin to feel fervent tugging on the opposite end of it. The fox frowned and began to slow his pace, the sweet sickly smell of iron was beginning to fill the tunnel and his ears flattened. Not losing pace, he just continued to walk slowly keeping his pace even. Opting instead to take the high road as he had the day he'd thrown Wynry to his death. Pressed up against the wall, despite use of both eyes, he flattened his body to the ground.

Quietly, he coughed under his breath as he felt the thick gelatinous goo enter his mouth. Hastily, he spat it all over the ground in front of him, backing up a few steps so that he was no longer in view of the scene. A streak of the sticky tar lay in front of him so he couldn't move back. But he had seen what he needed, and as he opted instead to look through the eyes of the dismal tapir, he waited.