ORIGIN - 12. The Hanged Man

Deli

For the last half-cycle, thanks to a very large monstrous baby, the serpentine chrysalis had been left alone and the rest of the glass that had been the end of the gembound within was picked away. The reformation was complete - a crack appeared on its bright green surface, jolting Delirious awake.

They felt weird. Way different then before. They blinked, confused, and reached out to press a paw against the cage walls. And oh boy did it feel really really weird. It didn't actually feel like a paw at all and the way it moved was so, so different then before.

They pressed forward, needing some light. It was too dark in here. They needed to see what was wrong. What changed.

After a few bangs on the inside of the gemstone, it split open, spilling them out onto the floor of Canis, right where they'd been killed a couple of weeks earlier. They coughed, green fluid spilling from their jaws as they struggled to get to their feet.

But...hold on that was weird. Standing on all fours didn't feel right. Unbalanced, almost, like they weren't meant to do that anymore.They looked down and their eyes widened with shock. Those weren't their paws! Those were just...way different! Totally wrong! They raised one and moved their new fingers around clumsily. It was so strange, but dexterous. Much more control then the paws they used to have.

They sat back, raising both claws and admiring their new hands, testing out movements with rapt curiosity.

Deli would unfortunately find that the monstrous baby that'd absolutely obliterated it before was in the general vicinity again - if only ten feet away was a good enough measure of general vicinity. Acidic eyes peered at the serpentine stone, widening as it started banging and making a whole lot of noise. Were there (visible) pupils in its eyeballs, they'd be shrunken into thin lines like a cat's.

The orthoclase wouldn't have moved an inch, though - it didn't. Alpha wasn't intimidated at all by the dog as they failed to even get to their feet; it was, in fact, curious. Curious about the clear difference. Somehow, this creature seemed skinnier than before, with longer and wider limbs. There were fingers at the end of their forepaws now, and they were in the process of inspection by not one, but two parties.

Alpha scuffled forwards (distantly noting that Deli seemed smaller now - or was it bigger?) and stared down at the hands. "You -" the hybrid monstrosity barked, as if it hadn't painfully caused this, "different?" Quills pricked, but in mere curiosity, "you... not dead? Bleeding before... then - rock." Big brain time. "Rock make different? And child?"

What concepts!

@Deli

Deli

Deli hadn’t noticed the monstrous creature nearby - perhaps because it was facing away or it was way too invested in its new paw-hands. But when it stepped up and spoke they flinched and whipped around, eyes wide. Were they going to get attacked again?

...No. It seemed to be calm again. Then again, they couldn’t really remember what had happened before. Their memory was kind of hazy. They remembered painting something, an insult, and then the world was pain. And then they were breaking out - different, changed, and feeling very very strange.

They blinked and looked back at their chrysalis, their trademark smile spreading easily on their face again. ”Guess so! Weird. Didn’t know that. I thought I was gonna die!” They turned back to the creature, expecting anger to start rising at the faint memory of whatever the hell it had done to them...but they were fine. It was in the past. And now...they had a brand new body.

It occurred to them that, perhaps, they were meant to stand on two legs - four legs hadn’t worked, after all. This would be strange. Carefully, awkwardly, with a paw braced against the wall next to them, they braced their back legs beneath their body and stood. It was slow and awkward and it took a second to get their balance, but finally they were stable on their two legs, albeit holding onto the wall like a crutch. A bought of sudden dizziness overtook them as they adjusted to this new way of just...standing. The ground was so much farther away now, far enough that they were scared they’d fall. Their legs wobbled beneath them, not used to holding their whole weight on their own.

They looked over at the creature, chuckling a little at their predicament. Now that they were standing upright...they were taller then it! Its head stood around their stomach and they reached out with their paw to give it a little pat on the head. ”Hey look! I’m taller than you now!”

@Orthoclase-Alpha

What couldn't chrysalises do? They couldn't just stop at spawning children and changing bodies. That would be a waste. Alpha mulled over this for just a moment, grunt half-heartedly at Deli, "should have died." The orthoclase had seen all of the blood. If the Overseer was worried about one little hole in a paw, then two very large holes in an entire body was definitely cause for concern. But, alas, here this fuzzy thing was. Perfectly intact. Alpha, surprisingly, noted this for later use.

Acidic eyes narrowed upon the now-bipedal canine, more than upset that they could just put it in their shadow. As a paw reached out to pat its head, the monster child gave off a noxious sort of gurgling and cub-screech, quills rattling and teeth snapping. Aside from that, the orthoclase didn't pursue the appendage. Hopefully, Deli knew not to push their luck.

"Don't mean anything," Alpha growled (showing off its excellent use of contractions,) scuttling away a few steps just to sit down and pick at its flaky exoskeleton. "I'll grow! Life-giver big." The orthoclase twisted its neck upwards, quills rattling with the motion. With a meaty paw, it gestured towards some stalactite whose point laid some fourteen feet in the air: "Overseer Vargas is touch-that-rock-big."

Yeah.

@Deli

Deli

Deli threw back their head and let out loud barking laughter as Alpha reacted horribly negative to their little pats. Oh, caves, that was funny! What was that noise they were making?! "You're funny!" they chattered. "I'm sure you'll grow bigger! Can't wait to see it! Actually," they paused as a bit of memory came back. Being held by its long forearm, bones crushing beneath its grip. "I can wait. Don't hit me again! Or be mean!" Their smile flashed and they giggled once before turning to the wall.

The drawing was still there - still ruined, now that they remembered what had happened, and a thought occured to them. "HEY," they barked, "Where's my bag? Did you move it? Is it still here? Did it get wrecked when you killed me?" Without waiting for an answer, they dove forward, moving aside bones and rocks frantically, looking for a peak of that brown leather they'd come to know.

Whether Alpha came to help them look or not, they eventually found it, snuggled into a nook between two rocks. Had they left it there? They couldn't remember, but that didn't matter. They slung the strap over their shoulder - it was a lot more comfortable now that they had a body that the bag was built for - and chuckled. "Oh good, I feel better."

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Alpha, if it had actual lips, would have scowled. Unfortunately, it was even more limited in expression than its life-giver. Deli was at least rewarded with another grumbling noise and narrowed eyes. Oh, and a childishly-thrown insult: "you break. Little bones shoot into my arm, so weak." Well, maybe it wasn't so much an insult as a thinly-veiled threat - it lifted a slightly cracked forearm, for Deli to see and not touch. "Touch me and I break bones." In case it wasn't clear enough. The orthoclase wasn't a fan of uninitiated touching.

Unhelpfully, it barked, "what bag." It wasn't even phrased as a rhetorical question - just a statement of confusion. The monster child didn't even know what a 'bag' was. It was more curious about the whole killing thing, and definitely not in a serial manner. "I kill you? No -" Alpha grunted, "no. You go - went into rock. You not dead like rat."

Did everything just go into rocks when they died? Rats, too? If Deli managed to glean any emotion from empty, glowing eyes, there'd be a vague notion of fear at thinking there were little rat chrysalises in its stomach, ready to claw their way out.

@Deli

Deli

Deli's smile widened and they barked out a laugh. Oh ho ho, they'd forgotten how much they disliked this guy! Very funny thread right there, holding up the forearm they'd cracked with their bone attack. A mischievous glint appeared in their eyes at the hint - don't touch, huh? With a jerking, clumsy movement, he reached out with a paw to tap Alpha on the head again. It was wildly stupid, but they couldn't help it - that just sounded like a challenge to them.

They grinned wide. "Oh, no, no no you definitely killed me! I don't think I would have gone into the stone again if I wasn't gonna die! Sure felt like I was! Don't be mean!" they suddenly snapped, repeating themselves.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

"Don't be mean!" this mutt snapped, and then immediately gave it a reason to 'be mean.' Alpha had apparently been a fool when it thought they would wisen up and listen when it gave a warning. It'd been so clear, too! But, no, this idiot just didn't learn a lesson when it got beat into them.

The orthoclase's quills rattled, and that would be all the warning the mangy dog got. Its head snapped forwards in pursuit of the hand that'd patted it twice too many times.

It had already killed them once, apparently (and with relative ease and minimal consequence) - it could absolutely do it again. It didn't aim to full-on sever the limb, but there would definitely be some mangling if it landed and held on, thrashing like a terrier with a rope toy.

@Deli

Deli

They were ready to move their hand away as soon as they touched the top of Alpha's head. The snaping jaws closed a hair away from their paw, but some of the hybrid's teeth still sheared through fur and skin, splattering a bit of blood. Eyes popped out, grin widened, the smallest of chuckles rose in their throat as they stepped back, licking the back of their hand.

"MEAN," they yipped. "You gotta chill out! Nobody will like you if you're mean like that! I'm not gonna paint you anymore!" Well, no, that was a lie. Deli would definitely be painting Alpha, probably in the same way they had painted Raheerah on the wall behind them. They snickered and lowered their paw. They were already feeling a lot more confident on their feet now so they gave them one last flashing grin. "I'm leaving! Don't wanna hang out with MEANIES."

With a last barking laugh, they turned and walked away along the wall, still bracing a paw against it to keep them steady, looking back every so often to make sure Alpha wasn't following them. That would be annoying.

*exit, unless stopped

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Alpha just stared blankly as a rightfully angry little child should. Its tongue snaked out and ran over sharp teeth and cleaned off blood while Deli went on a tirade about how mean it was. Well, of course. Only the strong survived in this world, and whining wasn't going to get them anywhere. The orthoclase wasn't worried about anyone liking it (except for the Overseer, of course) and gave a guttural growl to back that up.

It still sounded like an tiger cub, but just a little more bassy and intimidating by about two weeks.

And when the dog claimed to be leaving, moving at a snail's pace, Alpha gave a few clucks in laughter, trundling forward after them. "Go!" it barked, almost amusedly, before just giving the dog a hearty shove and continuing on with not a care in the world. Just to make sure their slow little movement couldn't catch up, Alpha put on a trotting gait towards the fortresses, out for some rats.

;exit alpha