ORIGIN

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The imagery, the hallucinations, gradually wore off--though any touching, or eating, the fish would naturally start them up again. Eating them more than once would prompt even stronger hallucinations than before.

Orarian would sense those ahead, on the shore, with its white sense--but also the fish behind it. Most were the normal, usual fish in Fornax: a few Redfangs, some shoals of Silverlings. But deep below, a few more of the unfamiliar, one-eyed purple fish bobbed--swimming in a loose group, to and fro, in an unorganized way. They seemed almost lost... as if they did not belong here.

Those sniffing stone and chain--Daryl, and Glaive--would find that the objects smelled (unsurprisingly, perhaps) like seawater. A bit rank, a little low-tide-like, and just a tad... fishy.

Akaari was, it seemed, their eyes: viewing past the plainly-visible into, once again, something other. Something that had been, at least in part, seen once before, but never investigated fully. It was a dialogue, of sorts: two figures, shadowed and not quite clear, standing on the shore of Fornax. This time, she did not fall away beneath the sea but instead seemed to be facing into it: but it was dim, now, and surging, unrestful...

The figures in Akaari's vision were breathing heavily, perhaps from exertion or emotion.

"We will lock away the city, too..."
"...can't be allowed to escape. She's loyal to them." this figure made a gesture, perhaps spitting on the ground, or a shake of the head--it was hard to tell in the brief, indistinct imagery.
"Where?"
There was a moment of unclear speech as the other answered, finishing with, "But somewhere underwater, for irony."
There was a shudder, a roar, as Fornax heaved, somewhat obscuring the voices. "...a bloodbath. Come."
"We'll start in Polaris. We'll have to block her off." Firm. Cold. Certain. "And yes--throw away the key."

The very piece of carved stone beneath Akaari's touch was visible, then--held in the hand of the speaking figure, caressed by an alien finger, then thrown: tossed, spinning through the air, splashing down into Fornax's raging waters.

The vision cleared.

@Shengxiao @Daryl @Akaari @Glaive @Haven @Effluvium @Orarian @Electrum @Kaimana

The fish was bony, a little... pungent? Sharp, but not bad. He munched, standing quiet and watching the gathering crowds from a little bit of a distance. There was a dragon, flying, and he stopped eating then, staring, blinking. A white mold sprouted from its--ears? Mouth? What was that--and then spread over it, a fungal blanket, a--

--Oh no. Fungus was sprouting over ALL of them-! Mother--how had he not realized?! Sergei looked in horror at the fish held in one paw. This was exactly how he'd gotten infected once before-! How stupid he was! OH NO!

Unaware that he was merely hallucinating, the bear began to back up rapidly, eyes widening in fear. He tossed the fish down and began to bellow.

"THE FISH ARE BAD! DO NOT EAT FISH! THEY ARE EVIL FISH!" A few stumbles, hearing his heart rate hammering in his ears, thumping in his chest--the barbearian turned, staggering away, running, fleeing. A glance back over his shoulders showed--

...No fungus?
He paused, blinking. Squinted. He realized he'd fallen, trying to run, and hadn't realized. Though slow-minded at the best of times, he was still able to piece it together; he'd had his share of bad mushrooms, on accident, and had munched a few bugs with this effect. Dark gaze darted from fish, to not-fungus, to all the visitors, and he cleared his throat before reluctantly calling out again. "Okay, perrhaps not evil fish. But do not eat," he added, shamefacedly.

Ok the petting was a Bit Much and he wasn't sure if he liked it, especially since these are some of the first creatures he's ever seen before. Tense and nervous now, he laid his ears back, uninterested in the stone as it became a new hot spot for multiple new beings and creatures.

He kept his treasure tight in his jaws, as he backed away slowly, new sounds and smells and sights had him a tad overwhelmed and he decided maybe he'd go sit on the sand, away from the others and watch the water. He trots away, not too far from the commotion but far enough that he can breathe a little easier.

He starts chewing on his treasure, watching with alertness as the others, especially those who ate the fish, reacted in strange ways. One seemed to be eating the sand itself. He tilted his head and wondered how it tasted.

He paused in his chewing to sniff at the sand and then lick it experimentally. No. He thought spitting it out and snorting as the texture irritated his senses and stuck to his tongue. His eyes flitted to the water, surely that would help, right?

He picks up his treasure, also coated in the sand and now a horrible texture on his tongue before he approaches the water.

He pauses, looking at the waves crashing on the shore, whenever they come forward some sand leaves with them, he doesn't want to lose his treasure.

He looks around before he places his treasure out of reach of the water but away from the others on the beach.

He's careful as he leans down, lapping at the water when it comes close but not following it. He can't leave his treasure alone. Someone might take it.

Emetophobia warning

Effluvium flinched at the whap, making a 'hrk' sound. It whipped its head up at the spinosaurus, a wet snarl. Jaws open and teeth bared. It clamped them shut, suddenly. The minor cadaver's mouth twisted up, and its eyes squinted. Its' recent meal caught up with it.

Effluvium leaned down and vomited, a stream of sand and bile. It's brief moment of bliss shattered, along with the hallucinations that had caused them. Effluvium did not understand all the words Sergei spoke, but they had come to the same meaning. Fish bad. Wary of both the fish and sand, it stood, wobbly.

Effluvium backed away, growling at the strange fish. The fish had tricked it. Effluvium shook itself, leaving a couple of splatters of mucus. Focus changed, it dragged itself towards the gathering of gembound. It had little idea what they could be discussing, and its grasp of language was flimsy at best. But other not-foods gathered together. There was a chance they had found more food. Food that did not make them eat sand? Its eyes caught nothing but a thin, black thing. It snuffled. The thin thing did not have the smell of rot or food. There was a hint of something there--something that reminded it of fish.

"Eat." It gurgled sadly. It considered going back for the fish on the shore. It was weird flesh that made Effluvium eat sand, but it was weird flesh it could put it in its' mouth. It still stuck its' tongue out, aiming to lick the chain. Maybe the chain tasted like fish

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ ~

It was becoming crowded. From sound and growling oceans, purple fish both swimming and dead, and the voices of others as they began to become more comfortable - or just louder. She couldn't listen to everything at once, nor look at it all and oh, she both wanted to run around wanting to tag everyone to get new facts as well as bury her head in the sand with all the treasures here. She could do neither at that moment for she was lost again. One moment she could see others walking towards her and the pup, the next they were falling away into nothing. Replaced by a new image. One less dark, though just as confusing as the previous one.

A city. A she. Someone was apparently important, was it the same someone from the previous vision? Locked away under the ocean, trapped and tortured by the image of others. Loyal to who? A bloodbath. Something was going to go down. More importantly, a key. Oh dear, she was becoming too attached to these visions, wasn't she? Her head was beginning to ache from where these visions completely over took her, both there and not there, a part of it and outside of everything.

Returning back to her own body was less sudden as it had been before, her eyes at least able to stay open without feeling completely blinded. The stone, that stone which she was touching - and someone else was before, where did he go? She could swear that another young guy was here at the stone with her - was a key. At least that's what she understood. However, what the ever-loving purple fish is a key? Archimedes had told her that others would be more knowledgeable that her, right, yet here she was with all this information, yet unable to understand any of it. Other than she felt terrible for the not-her. Was she still alive, the cub had to save her. If she had the information could someone else help? But she didn't want help, she wanted answers.

The cub only came back to attention when Glaive-cave was at the end of her question, Akaari's mind taking a little longer to fully process that she was being talked to, about her awesome treasure no less. "I don't think, I know." She dropped the chain at some point in her vision, her jaw aching from its weight, though she was grinning now, happy to be the one with answers to someone else's question, oh yes, the was the best day of her life. "It held not-me. Not-I trapped, below water. It was so dark. And there was green! So much green in weird shapes, weird shapes like that!" The cub was very excited at this point gesturing wildly at the stone and the ~~squiggly~~ etchings atop it, almost shouting as if she was unable to control her voice - though if others wanted to come listen to the story, which actually scared her a little not that she'd say so, then she wouldn't chase them unless they tried taking her things. Tried taking her things like the weird meat guy! She was not so worried about Glaive, neither about how close they were nor them sniffing her chain since so far she was not trying to take it. But the other guy wanted to eat it? "No eat!" Akaari growled deep in her throat - as much as a cub could, perhaps too high pitched to be menacing - so far the angriest she had been in her short life. The chain held stories, but what got to her more was that the chain belonged to her, not for someone else to eat.

Ramblings about the big brown furry thing's fish, how they were evil - which she fully believed as well, though not because of eating them - and remembering the fish in her own story Got her head snapping quickly between Glaive and the mean meat lump. "I need an evil fish. It's important, last one. Someone get fish." She couldn't leave this place herself, having to be the protector of the key-stone and the black chain because she was sure someone would try take them if she left, but the fish was the only other thing gembounds had crowded around here, and they were in her first vision. She needed to see what they could offer her. "Will give stories of black thing and key thing in return." A wide, all knowing smile directed at everyone - even if they weren't watching her - everything had to be a give and take, right? She needed a fish and she now had more knowledge than them, it was expensive knowledge in her mind but she would accept a purple fish in payment.

Only after she had all the information would she start trying to piece things together. That was what made sense, right?

vague/brief emetophobia mention

Hrk! Glaive recoiled again, at seeing the full brunt of this... thing. It was fleshy and actually horrid-smelling, and the grinding pop of bones and sinew to make that noise and subsequently expel a lot of oozy-red sand and sharp fish was enough to make her drop the interaction entirely - that, and the panicked scrabbling the biggest of them was currently engaging in.

Sure, these fish made her mouth feel fuzzy and like there was a tongue slapping around in there, but... evil? They're just part of the ocean! The ocean's not bad, right? The whelp shouted her rather childish assurances, "they're just weird!" It was the same sort of weird that the shuffling pile of flesh was, or her parent-protector with its many tendrils and world-breaking voice, or this bear-on-two-legs, or this chain that smelled very appetizing.

It suddenly wasn't very appetizing when Effluvium licked it.

She drew back with a huff, accidentally bumping into the cub's chin on the way up (uttering a quick "oops, sorry!") "I don't think, I know." Glaive's eyes widened. She's a knowledge-holder! "It held not-me. Not-I trapped, below water." Wait. "It was so dark. And there was green! So much green in weird shapes, weird shapes like that!" It's broken. The chain was a pretty decent size, and it was broken. "Who's... not-you? That sounds, um, weird. How do you know that? Do you really know that?" The spinosaur had yet to learn about any magic other than see good and make sick - perfect grounds for her suspicions.

Taking on the role of peacekeeper, she trundled in between Effluvium and Akaari before a fight broke out, looking at the former (with a barely-restrained grimace) and tentatively offering, "I can catch you a not-purple fish when we figure this out? I'm a fisher-dragon! I fish!" Then, she blinked (when'd the grues go away?) and looked towards the last few fish on the shore. "They make you hear colors. It's weird. You sure you want one?"

Regardless, Glaive toddled off to get one, and made one last addition as she dropped it before Akaari and her world smeared into grues again: "they're not evil! Just weird..."

Glaive.... didn't respond. Her friend seemed distracted by everything else, and you know what? Kaimana couldn't place blame for that. There was a frightening number of creatures here. Kaimana had no idea what she'd missed, but now she was starting to wonder... what were they all doing here?

There were a lot of crazy and terrible scents slamming the cub's nose at once. She didn't know the source of any. She didn't know what was going on. Something about fish being evil? Fish tasted really good though. Then they weren't evil, so Kaimana guessed that was just taken care of. Some creature was licking a strange contraption on the ground, another appeared to be licking water. And yet another was telling perhaps the most confusing tale Kaimana had ever heard. To be fair, she hadn't heard many, but she had been tasked with keeping up with Glaive's rambling once she'd slipped out of her chrysalis.

The story-rambler wanted evil-fish-that-wasn't-evil. It appeared to be offering a deal. Kaimana was intrigued at the promise of getting one thing for another. What an innovative idea! Giving fish, a delicious treat, for a "key" and the stories of the "black thing", whatever the heck those were! Honestly, though, petting would've been a good thing to trade for. Well-- hm, perhaps that wasn't true? Was a "key" or a story about a "black thing" better than pleasant scritches? Kaimana had no idea, and that piqued her interest. Perhaps the only way to find out would be to get a fish...

Glaive could get a fish.

Popping back into reality (and out of the world of contemplating the value of pets versus keys and stories), Kaimana looked around for Glaive again. My, that one was all over the place. Kaimana padded after Glaive, the inner workings of her tiny legs speeding up, fueled by the tension and excitement the jaguar's mind had bestowed upon these events. Glaive had had the same idea about fish-catching, it appeared. Except apparently the fish on everyone's mind made you hear colors. You could do that? Why??

Well, perhaps it didn't matter. As long as it was a fish, the trade worked, right? Right? Right. Right? Okay. Kaimana decided to get to a position where Glaive was in her line of sight, so that she could watch what would happen. Everything seemed like it was being taken care of, no need to make a big fuss. Make fish trade, find out what key is, compare it to petting, mission accomplished! Although at some point, Kaimana wanted to get Glaive's attention. Hm.

Kaimana would think on that while she watched...

He eventually scrambled out of his episode, moving backward. "ah, dont touch any of those scraps" he growled "horrible, nasty things" he hissed. he backed up, sighing.

For now, the only hints of the mysteries Akaari had seen belonged to Akaari herself. The strange figures, the mention of a city, a key... of her. Of Polaris... how strange.

@Shengxiao @Daryl @Akaari @Glaive @Haven @Effluvium @Orarian @Electrum @Kaimana

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ ~

Akaari, by not paying too much attention and thinking far too much, was suddenly hit by a...head. A very large head, though it only brought slight pain to her chin - more out of surprise than any real hurt - she still took a step back. Just leaving people a bit more space, no need to get bumped into more than necessary. "Yes! Yes, I really really know that!" Excitement was coursing through her veins, replacing the plasma that made its home there and sending jitters through her body ~~as if she had downed bottles of energy drinks~~, things were becoming far more interesting and oh she couldn't wait to have everyone here watching her. All of their attention just on her, the cub stood in the centre of them all with her chest puffed up, telling them the story that she had learnt. They would give her a medal. She would be revered among them as the one with all the answers. The image was clear in her mind, a fantasy she would make come true one day, although in reality the cub was nor more than grey fluff stood over a black chain and weird stone thing, ordering others around and protecting what was hers like a spoilt little dictator. Now just give her what she wants and she could give them knowledge.

Because that's all everyone needs in the world.

All she could feel for Effluvium was confusion. Was it food? Or not food? It spoke so not food, but it sure as hell looked like food. Then again, it didn't glow nor sparkle, so perhaps it wasn't food. Talking meat slab? That was interesting. So food. Oh dear, what a conundrum and she wasn't sure she'd be able to figure it out. Not that she would need to when there was suddenly someone between them, keeping the other one who wanted to eat her chain safe of course, Akaari so could have taken it down, but then Glaive offered it fish. Fish for nothing in return. Why? That made no sense. Maybe they had a deal going on already, yes, that was probably it. They had spoken previously and the thing offered something in return for fish.

Oh, the snow leopard was very pleased when a gift was granted at her feet - glorious!. Perhaps Glaive-Cave could be useful, Akaari was definitely thinking about the things that could be achieved by having this large creature on her side. Archy said be polite, she could do that, polite and friendly then perhaps Glaive-Cave would do whatever she wants, as long as the cub doesn't forget about the magic words that is. "Thank you!" See, magic words. "Weird, not evil. Okay." Maybe she wasn't the most knowledgeable in fish so she would take the other's words as truth, but there was a lot of conflicting truths going on.

She had ignored many around her, and many questions too, she didn't like what she couldn't answer though, and had promised them stories, information on what she had learned, but there was still more to know. The last fish placed before her on a silver platter, it was the last thing she needed. Then they would get answers. Well, maybe not answers per se, but she could give them questions. Wasn't that just as good. "Will explain all, just not now. Need last weird place first." Patience, now, all they had to do was wait as Akaari reached down to touch her nose against the fish, eyeing it suspiciously as she did so.

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Game Master Dark

Sergei

Daryl

Effluvium

Akaari

Glaive

Kaimana

Shengxiao

Game Master Dark

Akaari