ORIGIN

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The grinding of the ring was satisfying to Serendipity's ears. Her tongue swiped past her lips to try to ease the burning but she found it only really made it worse-- as much as she liked fire and working with fire, it never got easier to belch out angry flames.

She had a good idea on how to proceed-- or, at least, what seemed like the safest way to proceed, considering the rings had lashed out on casters before. She leant past the first ring and towards the second-- water-filled, thinking. She didn't know much about water but she could assume, come up with ideas on what they could do, she supposed.

And then she saw a bug, running past. A lesser? No, it-- was speaking? Wait--

"No-no-no-no-no," she chanted. There was nothing she could do for the cat but she could certainly stop other people getting hurt. The humanoid figure stepped by and went to scoop the mantis up into her calloused hands. "You have to go in order. Don't skip any or you might get hurt."

Siren's head turned for who, she assumed, was the leader-- a bird-like hybrid. "The water one next," she called to Auré, in the meantime offering the top of her fluffy head for Pip to nest in. "It needs really strong magic-- do you know if there is anyone who can move the water that's in the ring? Move it like the first ring did?"

She knew very little about water magic, but it was worth a try.

Poco Loco backed up when Wilder flinched away from her, though her ears airplaned back, upset at her newfound friend being upset with her. "Me too," she offered with a tuck of her tail, backed away to have a look around, before sneezing at the scent of something burning, looking back at the other cat.

She'd not known her magic long enough to miss it, but she could still long, wish that she could do such a thing.

And then the other cat screamed and Poco leaped, alarmed, twisted in the air with a yowl to land in a crouch, staying far away from Wilder, back arched and fur on end as she rumbled a low growl, pain and burning and blood-scent strong in the air and leaving the kitten to shiver.

Another approached, and the kitten hissed, still alarmed, more frightened, flinching and scurrying back as it burped fire, and scrambled back all-the-more when the ring turned, the sigil grinding loudly.

The... purple whatever-it-was spoke, but she didn't understand it, back arched, fur puffed, tail straight on end as she hissed.

There were voices, other ones, and though he tried to follow them for a time there were far too many, and he found himself dizzied--he'd never been near so many before, so he gave up and instead listened for any mention of a 'door' and, oh, there we go, 'those rings on the wall' someone said, and he tilted his head, would have spoken but then he was deafened, and thugh it was only for a moment, to someone blind, whose hearing was everything, it was terrifying, and he thrashed his wings, shrieking in the way his species had been named for, only settling when he regained his hearing, huddling in on himself, feathers puffed out to make himself as large as possible.

For a time, he stayed still, unthinking and unmoving, but finally a deep grinding drew his attention, and he slowly stretched out, tilting his head this way and that testingly, before slowly croaking, "Who-," then corrected himself, "The... the door, the rings?" he cleared his throat as best an owl could, "What do they look like? What do we need?"

continued from the new normal

The voices of many, many beings carried through the room, attracting the two-beat footsteps of a particular fox (kitsune? fox). She could catch the coattails of what one being said- water? A golden eye flicked to a curling wisp. What? It bobbed in place before swirling about her neck, its twins behind it weaving their trails through. Hadn't this being just blast fire?

Was she related to Hargrave? No, no, too different, she decided, as she weaved in closer to study the item of interest. Blue light cast about the beings as wisps danced to and fro.

Water. Water... There was water, there? Drawing close, she lifted off (with a bit of effort) from the ground to peer up, wide eyes blinking in curiosity. Ah, there! Held in the sigil was the water, and her magic sparked to life in a bit of self-righteous heroism overcoming her. She had water magic!

Shutting her eyes, she concentrated on grabbing the water to pull it up and through the circle.

The water was pulled free, the receptacle emptied. Wherever Null put the water, that's where it would go! ...Except the ring, strangely, did not move. It rumbled, though: a helpful sort of grinding sound, as if it wanted to move. As if Null were on the right track, just... missing it, somehow.

Yet so very close.

@Null

Well, she had a ball of water now, and she traced it with her eyes as it bobbed much like her wisps. Huh. Was it supposed to do something? Looking to the others, she deposited the water back in place before scuttling off, tails fluffed up high as she returned to the river she came from. More water, then! It had come out- should more go in?

Drawing herself up, she reached in again, trying to force out her magic once more as she neared the water. It swirled up and up- and hit along her body, forming a false leg where her old one was. Instinct drove her to try and put her weight on it, and she was almost sent careening into the river with a yelp.

No- okay. Okay, it's just water. It's not a peg or anything. Inhaling, she hopped back over with the watery paw drawn up and cradled close to her chest. She had a different solution to the puzzle, perhaps, and when she returned the water turned to a snake-like form and circled about the ring before depositing as much as it could into the receptacle.

@Game Master Dark

The tiny glass ball filled to overflowing; the remaining liquid seemed to trickle out and trace damp lines, beaded with moisture, entirely around the stone ring.

A gentle creak echoed through the room, and there was the sound of sloshing--like the echo of distant ocean breakers--that came and went; and the second ring ground slowly into place.

@Null

The mantis settling on his ear must be young, judging from the eager enthusiasm of her voice, and his own tone shifted slightly, pitch growing a little softer, "maybe they only like certain things. I'm sorry they don't like your... noises." He tried not to flick his ear in consideration. She started talking to other people, then danced down his ears slightly to yell down at... someone else? All of a sudden, his tail was itchy but -

Aure couldn't tear his eyes away from Wilder as she touched the wall, magic coiling hot through her flesh and making her screech. The little black cat collapsed, wheezing in agony, and he made to move but, but... he couldn't. His heart was caught in his throat and no amount of swallowing could shove it down. Fire and blood roared in his ears, eyes growing glassy even as the first ring rumbled and shifted until it'd seemingly fallen into place. All of that was on the backburner for a moment as he stared wide-eyed down, bile rising in his stomach and settling uncomfortably near the roof of his mouth. This too, couldn't be shoved down by any amount of swallowing.

Wilder picked herself up, left - and the firebreather from before was... talking to him. Her voice fell on what may as well have been deaf ears, and he only belatedly parsed that someone had been saying words at him - a Bone King. He'd taken charge and then just vanished into himself.

He loosened the knot in his throat a little, chirping finally, "sorry, I didn't hear you." Bright eyes glanced emphatically up towards Siren, then the wall. "You seem like you've got it." A fox came up, casting magic about and clearing the second ring. "Sorry, I -" Aure tried again, backpedaling slightly, "I'm bringing personal stuff into this." I need to go check on Wilder, even if I - well, she's... injured. A darker part of his mind chimed, She might be using this to lure you away. No, he reasoned, twisting his head to look that way, "I'll be back after I check up on... her. Make sure everybody stays careful."

Not that this one seemed to need any help with that. She was taking better control of all this than he would.

His wings shifted as he got ready to trot after her, but he hesitated and continued to look up at the humanoid, looking for a response or subconscious reason to not go over there.

@Siren

The sound of grinding was immensely satisfying to Serendipity, in the same way that figuring out anything was satisfying to her. Gold eyes flicked down to the three-legged, three-tailed fox as she grinned, cheerfully, good-naturedly down at her.

"Good work," she commendated, and it was genuine. Azure had taught her not to be anything but. Her gaze lingered on the scarring where a limb should have been on the creature for a moment-- just for a moment --but it was enough to make her wonder, make her worry."Sit back and take a rest, yeah?"

Maybe there was a way to try and help her, make her a new leg. But she'd have to figure that one out later-- much later. Serendipity stepped forward to the third ring, the humming one, and popped a squat down next to it. She listened, watched, and wanted so badly to touch it.

The thought of the cat stopped her.

There was a hiss as the humanoid sucked in air through her teeth, thinking. She rattled off the spells she knew about in her mind all at once, focusing on the strongest, but she was half-interrupted by the presumed leader talking to her.

She looked over her shoulder before she pushed back up and stepped closer. Maybe this thing was partially deaf and needed the proximity to hear properly, but the mention of I need to check on her took her back a bit. That's when it clicked. Well. Clicked.

Siren looked after where the burnt cat had gone, and then back to the hybrid in front of her. "Yeah, uh, go check on your girlfriend," she said, not without mild sympathy. She'd be worried if Azure had met the same fate, sure. She glanced off again, and then back down to Auré.

"Look, while you're out, uh," the tall figure guestured backwards to the rings, frowning. "We need strong magic-users for this shit, right? If you know any could you bring them back here? If you don't--"

She scanned her own mind for a moment, before it settled. "There's this white deer called Pride in Orion, if you don't know anyone, he might be able to help," she shrugged. Maybe. Hopefully. It was better than nothing. She withdrew her hand back into her jacket pocket and ruffled the coat for a moment. "You should go before she goes into her crystal to heal up, yeah? Good luck."

Serendipity clicked her tongue once before she dipped her head to the hybrid and turned to wander back off towards the rings, eyes scanning the remaining gembound gathered around. "Same goes for everyone else, yeah?" She called out. "Weak spells aren't gonna fly for these things, else you're gonna end up like, really fuckin' fatally hurt. If anyone knows anybody that can cast big, powerful spells, bring 'em back here."

She stood next to the fox and stared down at the rings with a frown, and fell silent as she went back to quietly rattling off spells in her head.

Soumak couldn't quite understand everything that was happening. The voices were too far away, loud and buzzing, and the rumbling didn't help. But another was addressing her, so she spoke up and called, "No, I am not a mantis, I am not sure what I am. But know not a Morpho."

And then the other was gone, leaving her alone on the feathery tail. Her mount was having a conversation, and she understood enough to know that he was leaving, and she didn't want to leave, so she reached for her magic, a small, wilting rose emerging from the ground even as she leaped down to land on the petals.

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Dip

Un Poco Loco

Galactic

Null

Game Master Dark

Null

Game Master Dark

Auré

Dip

Soumak