Beneath the individual smashing of rock, and the magic cleaving stone, the ground began to be worn away.

Ahh, and here--at last! He wasn't lying, then. At least, not about the existence of the stone.

The broad flank of a gemstone lay beneath: pale green Chrysoprase, some two feet in diameter and, thus far, only partially exposed.

Though the chrysalis remained inert, a strange Voice seemed to resonate through the air around them--or was it through their minds?

"Is THIS who they sent..? Pathetic! THIS?! GAH. BAH! Far too weak. Far too... nice. No, tell them I am STAYING ASLEEP." The voice then lapsed into silence.

@Rain

Aw, he needed water? Rain hesitated, mulling that over. Perhaps... they could find a vessel, of some sort? Oh well. In the meantime, rock cleaved from itself over the ground, and a green stone glimmered. It spoke to them, of being... nice? Too nice? Laughable. Absolutely laughable. But, Rain supposed that they could understand -- the ruse the Court were keeping up was... polite, at best.

Rain, to their credit, reacted immediately, and dialed up the charm to eleven. "We've been sent to free you and the other six from your prison," she explained, drawing her arms up to her chest like the scythes they were meant to be. "Perhaps if we are too weak, too kind, you could come out and teach us how to be stronger?"

Meanwhile, she stretched one of her legs towards Paul to nudge him, as if to say, Go again!


@matthieu @arwen @jasmedai @paige
i'll post paul once everyone else has gone, or in a few days -- whichever comes first!

Arwen was silent as she stepped forward, looming above the chrysalis, "Weak? Polite? Oh you have no idea of who we are."

’Of who I am.'

"Weakness is what you are, my fellow," she said sweetly, "Trapped within stone, helpless to anyone who should drop a particularly large boulder upon you. You call us weak? Bah."

She knew weakness like an old friend, and she could happily say she was not weak. She remembered having to be carried around because her legs were too small. She remembered standing in front of Isra and being helpless as her despicable swans descended upon her.

She was not weak.

Anyone nearby would see her fuming, her wings buzzing angrily as she clenched her fists so hard that her carapace strained. Her mask, still smiling, looked menacing.

Paige blinked, then smiled down at Paul. What an odd (but delightful!) creature, with his mouth on his belly! And color-changing limbs, too--she wished she could do that! "You are cool!" she confirmed cheerfully. A shame he couldn't stay out of water for long, but I guess I can go into the water myself if I wanna play with him! Getting wet wasn't the worst thing in the world, as long as it wasn't cold. Which, ah, Polaris was, a little. Darn.

Well, she could figure that out later! Because his spell had just worked. "Whoa!" Paige gasped, her eyes widening as rock shattered and revealed the buried Chrysoprase. SHINY! screamed the collector inside her. It was so BEAUTIFUL! I WANT IT- "You can break rocks with your magic? That's SO C-"

But she was interrupted--quite rudely, too--by a strange voice ringing out. Paige frowned, her ears pinning back slightly with confusion and newfound wariness. Are they sure this is safe? she wondered, glancing uncertainly at Rain, then Arwen. Why would niceness ever be a bad thing, unless the thing inside was mean...?

Oh, dear. Lady Flower-Crown seemed to be getting pretty mad too. Even threatening the voice inside the rock? That wasn't very nice of her--but Paige supposed she had a good enough reason to be mad, so it didn't mean she was a bad person, right? Uncertain, Paige looked back and forth between the tall fairies. Should she say something...? They seemed to know more about this than she did.

Paul was not expecting to be nudged, and was kicked onto his side. Rain hadn't meant to, of course, but they were rather strong and he was rather not. He righted himself and blinked at the fissure he'd made. The voice didn't seem to be very nice, and he cast a wary glance at Arwen, but he wasn't the most morally... anything, and didn't have much opinion on this beyond the fact that he'd been asked to help.

So, like, whatever. He liked to take orders, it meant he had to spend less time thinking. He stared intensely at the crack he'd already made, and focused on trying to make it deeper. Unfortunately, no magic came, and he pulled his limbs closer to himself. He was starting to feel the discomfort of being out of water -- he could survive out here for several minutes, of course, but that didn't mean it was exactly comfortable.

There was mocking laughter, muffled by stone. If this thing was truly in a chrysalis, it seemed strangely awake, aware, and air-breathing. "You have no idea what you're talking about! No, no. You aren't worth my time."

There was a pause, as if consideration; and then the voice spoke again.

"Of course, if you can prove you aren't nice, weak little fluffy fools, perhaps I'll bother with you. Maybe not. I don't know yet. Make each other cry, or something. Or kill someone, that's always nice. Some good old-fashioned betrayal! Where's my fork..."

It was unclear what a fork had to do with betrayal and tears. Probably unrelated.

@Rain

Rain looked over to Arwen. "My Queen? You're frightening the others," she said, nodding towards Paige. Not that she imagined Arwen cared, but. Her head inclined. Rain was... honestly entirely willing to try and provoke Arwen into a fit, but they'd follow her lead. In the meantime, they hesitated, listening to the creature.

Something about the word fork gave them pause. They hesitated, thinking over the word. It was... familiar, in the way that most unfamiliar words in these caves were, but Rain couldn't picture what fork was. She wracked her brain for definitions. How to define it...

Rain could be defined as the water that fell from the ceiling sometimes. But they hadn't known that when they picked it -- although, they hadn't been the one to pick Walks Like Rain. When she thought about her real name, Borealis, she couldn't quite place it. It was colors and light, of course, Rain knew that -- but that was not quite right.

A half definition, then. So what was fork? Rain concentrated hard, and came up with something with prongs. What was a prong, then--? Well, that one was easier. Rain knew what the spikes on antlers could be called, prongs. Suddenly, an epiphany came, and Rain struck the tuning fork hard against the fissure. "Do you mean this, Devil?" she asked, trying to keep the excitement out of her tone.




@forgraves @arwen @matthieu @paige @jasmedai

"My Queen? You're frightening the others."

"We are not weak," she chittered in bug-speak, unable to be understood by anyone except for Rain, her eyes glowing red with rage, magic firing up with her emotions, "You can understand why I am offended by this measly creature stuck beneath rock and stone for however long."

Rain would remember when she was small. Arwen turned out to be the largest of any of the Court, with the fiercest magic (she'd trained harder than anyone to hone it), but she'd also been the weakest at a time. Small, virtually helpless. Relying on what measly spells she'd known and having to be carried by her soulmate in order to get anywhere on time.

She finally turned to face those who'd joined them, eyes burning red like coals before she loosened her grip and turned away, saying nothing.

"If it hurls insults one more time, I will hurl something else back at it," she hissed under her breath, already searching for a suitable boulder to lift and drop.

Let it be buried for a few more eternities.

@Rain

Uncertain, Paige glanced back and forth between the talking rock and the tall insectoids. "Uh- are we sure we want to let it out?" Not that the idea of treasure didn't tempt her, or that it was very nice to leave anyone buried underground... but the voice wanted them to make each other cry? Kill somebody? Paige wasn't sure it was safe to be near someone who thought like that once they were free.

"It seems pretty happy to stay in the rock," she offered weakly. "I mean, it's not crying to be let out or anything. We could just... leave it?" Surely it wasn't cruel to leave it there when it didn't even want to be freed by them?

Jasmedai 'oohed' as she saw the ground crack. A soft, "great work, kin," left the plant creature. And now, there was the matter of the to grinned. "Of course we want to let it out. It is a friend trapped. It just...hasn't realized it wants our help yet." Jasmedai slid by Paige. A vine slipped from the roiling cluster, its intent to brush against Paige's fur. Traveling against, rather than with the fur.

"Why, Fork-man, we can be plenty cruel. What Jasmedai wishes to know, is what use is there in cruelty, if there is nothing to gain from it? What will I gain from being cruel for your sake? The others have their reasons, but I? I wish to have mine." She peered down at the rock, investigating with a vine.

(specific interaction with paige and mention of paul!)

@Rain