It wasn't over.

Not for the reason others might see--but because the storm-cat still had no form. Black watched, brow furrowed, as the energy lashed around the stone, reforming, in a sense. Yet he knew from the overheard words and the rumble of thunder--and the words within that--that all was not as it should be.

And what was this?

With the calls of the black bird still ringing overhead, the others began to reappear, released gently from the void. This is good, Black thought to himself. And they seemed unharmed, from what he could tell. He paced over, snuffling at them briefly, checking that they were alive, and would recover, before turning his attention back to Senka herself.

"It is good," he declared, and continued, "but the creature still lacks form. The dog will aid, should she find a method for it."

He cocked his head to one side, eyeing the arms of shadow, wondering just what they were. There is shadow, and then there is void. He remembered his hatching, quite distinctly--and the certainty that he, himself, was "void." It had been his first name. But was he? What was this, what was the black and what was it doing?

"I would learn more of this, 'void,'" he said matter-of-factly, looking again to Senka. "I will remain in the cave, but you will have the privacy you seek. But," he added, and he looked at her more sternly, heavy brow furrowed over pale blue eyes, "she will not take them again."

The words were delivered matter-of-factly, a statement of truth rather than a threat. He seemed to be indicating... everyone. Declaring that Senka would not, in fact, pull others into the Eyes any longer.

Of course, he had absolutely no grounds to make that declaration; yet there it was, and with it said he turned, looking over the others once more. "We must go," he stated. "Their pain requires solitude."

________________

Giggle felt herself thrown out, skidding over stone, tumbling. Clumsily--taken off-guard--she scrambled to her feet, snarling. A shrill cackling born of confusion, rage and fear escaped her, perhaps chillingly incongruous to the situation, and she snapped her dark gaze around, eyes fixing on Senka. Brief shock and surprise at being so suddenly vomited back into reality shifted to further surprise at seeing the cat still here, and then Giggle heard her words.

Rage. Pure, unadulterated rage.

The chittering turned into a low, barking, guttural growl, thick fangs bared to the gumline, her hackles on end as she fully turned to face the hairless cat, stiff-legged. Her words came rapid, sharp and accusatory, full of righteous hatred.

"Leave your home?" She demanded, outraged. "You are the monster who crept into my home--into OUR home--and stole me AWAY!" she roared. She started toward the cat, without any clear plan in her mind, but Black was in her way, and she continued to snarl angry words over his shoulder as he turned to half-watch her warily.

"You LEFT ME TO DIE, alone in NOTHING, and you will do it again--and you order us to leave? You're a danger to this cave and EVERYONE in it--and you're a bitch, you rotten-skinned bullying CAT!" The last word was spat with pure hatred, Giggle's head low and body tensed, pacing behind Black with fangs still bared and every hair along her back and neck raised in a fungus-matted brush of aggression.

Omen circled overhead, calling shrilly, its mind sending Giggle fearful warnings not to assault--and Giggle knew it was true. Undoubtedly Senka could simply pull them into the void again--but why let her live, to do it over, and over? Why not fight her now, and chance ending it, rather than the entire caves living in terror of her cruelty and her void and her eyes?!

Giggle thus ignored the bird, clacking jaws sharply toward Senka, though she was still some distance away. "You delighted in being a monster," the hyena added in a low growl. "What is your excuse?"

________________

ROLL THE BONES

Still silent, still unmoving, still safe. The small fruit bat watched with blank face and internal interest as the gemless canine continued to stand confidently before the creature of shadows. Did he not realize what danger he was in, or was there within his being a soul forged stronger then Zeno's own?

The dark dog's actions, as simple as they may have been, seemed to resonate with the will of the shadow cat. The gem that Zeno had observed earlier had been the key, and with its retrieval the lives of the captives were granted once more. Had it not been visible the whole time? Perhaps this frightful entity had difficulty interacting with anything that was note one with the 'void' as they called it.

As the final gembound was released Zeno allowed himself to drop from his perch and catch the air to fly out as though scared off by the sudden appearance of a crowd. They were safe now, or at least they had a chance to escape. The creature of shadows and creature of lightning had been appeased and behind him he could hear their demand to be left alone. Had that been what had caused this mess in the first place? Trespassing on their territory without realizing it? He would have to keep note of that, perhaps warn others should they venture too close. He had been completely useless here, but if the dog's actions were any example he knew he wouldn't always have to be so.

It would take a long while, but perhaps one day he might be able to rediscover the self that had aspired to journey to the heavens and reignite the stars. For now, however, it was sufficient to know that he was not bound by the limitations he had assumed and even accepted himself to have.

- Exit Zeno -

---

'Know yourself'
"Before you try to influence others"
Tags:

He came to as if waking from a deep sleep, one sense becoming aware at a time. There was cool, firm stone beneath him, and the steady thumping of his heart inside his chest. Faelan flicked his ears as sounds, no, voices, seemingly muttered overhead. He peeled his golden eyes open slowly, and the scenery around him let the memories of what had happened crash over him.

Eyes. Darkness. Nothing, but the eyes. Laughter, from the eyes?

Faelan jerked his head up, and the voices became clear in the same instant that he swiveled it toward them. The lion took one good look at the void-black dog, the eye covered creature, and the seemingly living lightning, and decided that he was not capable of dealing with it. He had one, fleeting thought before he scrambled to his paws that the lightning seemed to be shaped almost feline-like. Then he was up, and the dog was turning to them, since the filly and black poof were by him Faelan just noticed, and saying that the two strange beings needed to be left alone.
He didn't need to be told twice. In fact, the lion was turning to flee before the last words even left the dog's mouth. Faelan didn't give Giggle, or her shouting, one thought as he sprinted toward the other side of the room. All he cared about was getting far, far away from here.

The lion had no idea where he was going, but he took the first, well-lit tunnel that he came across. It was narrow, but the feel of the rock on either side of him actually soothed him. He could feel now, and hear, see, taste, and smell. He had taken it all for granted before, but he wouldn't do so again. The lion imagined that nothing would ever be able to make him forget about the void. To be nothing was...hard to forget.
Faelan shook his head, and then noted the ease of doing so. The tunnel was widening, he thought just before he sped up. At first, he didn't even notice the wave of energy that washed over him. He just assumed it was his fear driving him farther and farther from the star-studded room.

[EXIT]

The filly squealed as she suddenly found herself scooped up, carried out on a cloud of shadows. It was as though her body went rigid, preventing her from panicking, and fleeing. And then there was solid ground beneath her. Two inhuman creatures stood near her, and she balked, struggling to get to her hooves. Several other Gembounds stood around, a lion nearby her, the one that had frightened her before.

Screw this, she was out of here!

She wheeled, and moved to flee the situation. But, it seemed, her legs were still effected by the paralysis, and she stumbled, going to her knees. Once she was able to find her feet, she whirled to face the things, the Gembounds-that-weren't, and stared, wild eyed with fear.


"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

When the dog offered his aid again, she felt her lips curl; she could not deny it would be useful to know he might be willing to help them, but she did not want to rely on the Gembounds to fix her mistake. She did not know what she could tell him of the other side, there was much she was learning of it herself—like when she had tested the Gembounds sustainability within it using Giggle, and the results were poor—but when he further demanded she not pull any more of the creatures into it, a spitty hiss sharply left her teeth.

"There is only one who commands me," she warned. "It will never be you." Despite all of His wrongdoings against her, and those that served Him too. There was no order in this life she lived now, and this dog was not going to introduce it—

Neither was the hyena! Her summoned eyes all focused at once on the mess of madness that yelled at her now, her black teeth baring in warning, ears flattening at the sound. A veil of shadow had crept up to cover her body subconsciously when Giggle mentioned her rotting skin. Her excuse? Then, she had been young and lonely in her new form. She had been curious if the Gembounds could even join her in the realm she was lost in, but it turned out, they could not. She would be forever alone, banished, in the void.

She hadn't left Giggle alone to die. Senka couldn't leave one realm or the other; she was constantly in a state between either of them, neither of them.

"Go home and read your bones, you fool," she said lowly. "See what they say of me." Senka, too, would be watching. Her many eyes narrowed on the hyena. She wasn't a danger to everyone in the cave any more than all of their own kind could be. There was no order in the life they lived.

@Black @Giggle @Llamrei

Black listened soberly, pendulous ears pricked. Very calm, dignified, he came to the obvious conclusion--Senka could kill them, but should she prove enough of a threat, the cave would band together and take her down. His tone was one, therefore, of warning, rather than threat--though in truth there was not much tone at all.

"The dog does not command. It is statement. Should she draw them in again, she will be destroyed." Calm, indifferent, he then turned to Giggle, drawing on his magic even as he did so, with the intention of hiding Senka from sight--though unbeknownst to him, he only managed to shield a random stalagtite on the ceiling, instead. It was shrouded in shadow, which was drawn away from the area below--but he did not notice.

He knew not what had infuriated the hyena to this extent, though given her half-hysterical tirade, he could make a half-decent guess.

"Leave her. For now. Return with me. We will speak with your bones once more. As I have spoken with you before. Your wisdom is remembered," he added, stepping closer to Giggle, trying to block her view physically, as well. "Words reaching beyond the veil of knowledge, and returning with truth. Come." He was about Giggle's size--lighter-weight, perhaps, and her frame was somewhat larger, but he was muscled and healthy to her thin and rangy frame. His gaze brooked no argument, sternly calm, and his body was squared with hers.

He looked, too, to Llamrei, his calm entirely untouched by fear. "You will come. You will not be harmed," he added. "I will hear what her bones have to say. Do you wish to join us?" Truth be told, Black had no interest in Giggle's bones--he believed that she was truly a seer, from their last meeting long ago, but his ulterior motive was to distract her, to offer some other thought--something else to put at the forefront of her mind, as a father might offer a frightened child a new toy.

He did not want a fight.

He would stand between them and Senka--and between Senka and them--and guide the Gembound off.

________________

//exit Black most likely!? Possibly to Canis if Llamrei wants to come with idk

Giggle's snarl turned into a faintly savage grin. Oh, it would have been fanastic if she could think of a witty retort--any of a thousand, really--but her mind came up with blank, mad fury. The black dog was in her way, now, talking, and--for some reason casting shadow in the ceiling, but Giggle didn't take much note of this. Her very un-witty, rasping and rumbling growl was a simple--"I'll destroy you."

Not kill.

Destroy.

It was a promise. She'd find what the cat loved, and rip it apart and leave the pieces for her to find. She'd invade her nightmares with horrors untold. She'd return to the den and seed it with fungus to leave her with screaming madness.

Follow.

The word came with a flood of sharp thought, and Giggle immediately set a new plan into motion. With a guttural, barking snarl at the dog she turned, stiff-legged, calling upon her own magicka.

Subtly.

She would leave her fungal dander here--as subtly as she could, hopefully unnoticed. In Senka's den, and perhaps on Senka herself, if she got very lucky. She would watch. She would learn the cat, learn what she valued, what she did, where she went, her patterns; she would see what evil Senka perpetrated. She would wait, patient, cunning and savage, and find out how best to tear the heart from the skinless beast.

With another hoarse growl directed at Black, she turned back toward Canis--ignoring Llamrei entirely, and Senka, now, too.

________________

ROLL THE BONES

//exit Giggle, unless stopped

Her heart thundered, skin stretching tight over her ribs as she drew rapid breaths. She was trying not to panic, really, she was, but being faced by monsters of shadow, and many other Gembounds with sharp, scary teeth, it didn't really work. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and she couldn't make out a word that the shadow cat was saying, instead stumbling back a few paces.

Her attention was drawn to Black when he addressed her, seeming to be trying to protect the mad hyena from the shadow-cat. It took her a moment to work out his words, eyes still bulging out of her head, but finally she realized he was telling her to come with them, where she would be safe. But they were predators, and she prey. Was it truly safe for her to go with him? But, she decided with a look at Senka, she stood a better chance at surviving them than the shadow cat.

So, she would nod, panting, "I do!", before following both @Black and @Giggle out of the Cave.

-Exit Llamrei-

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

Her skin ripple with hatred at both the dog and the hyena, both for mentioning they would destroy her. Were they blind? Could they not see her? She had already been destroyed. She had been ripped from the life she once lived, what she thought she believed in, what she thought she worshiped.

She grinned widely, her black teeth slick with poisonous saliva.

"You may try." Her voice was thick as they departed, dripping like molten metal. She stepped after them, ensuring they would leave her home; her lips raised too far, a grin no creature should naturally have. Her jaws parted, inky wetness stretching between her rotting, black fangs.

A low, rumbling laughter built within her chest. Every part of her had already been destroyed.

"YOU MAY TRY!" she hollered into Orion's emptiness, her voice sputtering into a laughing cough; her knowledge of the spores was unknown.

This concludes K A K U H M [II]! If you have not already claimed your quest completion and achievement for Nine Lives, you may do so now in Update Me!