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796 POSTS
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ʡ 10
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Feminine
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76 Cycles
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Black Cat
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Jaymie
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The Child (image and coding by me)
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March 2019 COTM (image and coding by Dark)
Wilder heard no response from Squick and thought that, perhaps, the little worm was sleeping. But then a strange and really horrible feeling washed over her. She felt warm and tingly and her stomach began to shiver with pain. She herself began to shake from the feeling and her heart began to race as confusion set in. Was this some kind of trance? But there was nothing to cause it, no magic was used, and her head didn't hurt.
But then a moment later her stomach contracted and she retched, a stream of vomit flowing from her open jaws. Along the stream was the little worm that was Squick and Wilder wondered if it was Squick that had done that. Once her stomach had settled back to normal, she reached forward with her paw and carefully plucked Squick out of the mess. Once the worm was safely out of the way, she stared at the puddle and used her magic to pick it up, throwing it behind her, where nobody was standing, so that it would not be in the way. Still holding the worm with one paw, she hopped over to the topaz, where she set Squick on the ground, turning up to the Collecter with a big smile, as if nothing at all had just happened. "This is my friend, Squick! I think it wants to help too!"
She leaned down and touched the topaz with her small nose and, for a second, the heart on her cheek glowed and her eyes seemed to reflect the color. A shiver went down her spine and she stepped away, feeling very strange and a little light headed. Letting Squick do whatever it wanted to do, she turned and caught sight of a large white wolf that hadn't been there before. She let out a little purr and raced towards the newcomer. "Hi! I'm Wilder! Who are you? Thanks for coming to help!" She would have said some other things but then she realized that Aure had arrived as well. She was completely unaware of any kind of tension going on between all of the gathered ones and Eythan so she bounced up to her friend. "Hi Aure! I'm happy to see you here too!!"
The Lost (image and coding by CJ)
She'd began to notice it after some time. She constantly trotted around Canis, looking for cool little bits of rock and bone to bring to her children as little gifts, trinkets, not that Regalia ever even paid attention to them. (Not that it was even ever home but that wasn't relevant right now.) Out of the corner of her eye, something moved. She paused and glanced over at the pile of bones to her left, but there was nothing there. After a moment, she continued on.
But it happened again and again and bones she'd walked by before were suddenly gone, whole piles shifted or spread out. Either someone was moving them all the time or there was something else going on.
Wilder had seen enough to not just go with the easier answer.
She left the little home in Canis that she'd made for herself one day with a particular intention of figuring out what the hell was going on. She trotted through the bones until she was at an area near the center of the caves were she'd noticed many of the bones moving. She grabbed at a particularly large one, intending on looking forward, to see if it would be moving soon and who, or what, was moving it, but nothing came to her head. No heat in her gem or in her paws. Disappointed, she set it down and stood up, a little bit at a loss of how to investigate further.
The Learned (image and coding edit by me)
With the fighters distracted, Wilder turned her eyes to the backlines, where the rabbit had at last revealed itself. A flash of white caught her attention and she reacted almost instinctively, narrowing her focus on her, out of fear that she'd do something drastic. At first she aimed the spell right for the rabbit, to explode her into plasma, kill her instantly, but a sense of guilt and disgust welled up in her. She couldn't just...kill someone.
An unpleasant thought reared itself in the back of her head but she squashed it down for later, instead focusing on the crystal ground right in front of her. She focused, really really focused this time, ears pressed against her skull, and willed the ground to explode in light and blast both Ananke and the serpentine creature next to her - and everyone else nearby.
A rush of powerful magic surged through her and an instant later there was a blinding flash that Wilder had already closed her eyes against as a piece of the ground behind the fighters erupted in white-hot plasma. She pressed her ears harder against her head, hoping that she could block out the inevitable screams.
Wilder and Hume (image and coding by CJ)
How long?
How long had it been since she'd last walked this path? She could remember it as clear as anything - around this rock, over this pile, through this puddle - although there were some definite differences. Throughout the many cycles, rocks had shifted, bones moved and destroyed, puddles dried up and filled again. And throughout the whole cave was white. Blinding, sickly white, and the combination of the location and the fungus that dominated it brought back memories she had spent so long running from. And today, at last, after so many cycles alone and afraid and trying to push down her mistakes and her regrets, she had finally turned to face them. With the taste of cosmic magic, pink and gold, the echo of wings and meteors on the humble winds of the caves, she returned. Hopeful.
On her way through, fire blazed at her feet, white hot plasma sparked into existence in spaces around, burning away patches of the fungus of Order where she walked. If she would come to trouble him, she would, at the very least, bring some positive with her.
She found her steps, as she approached the home of the Bonebound, slowing, until she was almost at a standstill. There was a bump at her back and she glanced back towards Vaati - who had point blank refused to stay home to watch the kids while she did this - looking at her with wide eyes. He bruxed softly and she felt his encouragement. She took a deep breath as her tail drifted over to touch his flank, turned, and continued.
Once she had arrived at the place she knew, where she had once called home, where she had taken on the name Wilder - The Friend! and had dedicated her life to the Bonebound, and failed and betrayed them, she stopped. She didn't enter their territory, but drifted outside. "Aure?" She called softly, just loud enough so that her voice would travel. She felt Vaati crouching just behind her. She could feel his breath on her tail and it was enough to keep her present, keep her from slipping into fear and flight.
She could do this.
The Enlightened (image and coding by CJ)
She heard someone approaching, and glanced up to see them carefully gliding down. She was not afraid - a hunter would have been more quiet, an enemy would have been quicker in their descent. So she didn't move as they landed and approached, only turning to speak with them when they were asking their question.
She looked into their eyes and froze.
Golden and glowing, pupil-less. And their body, cloaked with the void, speckled with starlight and auroras. It was bigger then her, but undeniably feline. Emotions came swift and overwhelming and her magic caught up quickly and almost literally pressed the pause button on her reality. Everything stopped and she could look at him properly before she reacted.
It wasn't...it wasn't Regalia but the similarities were undeniable. She had never seen another gembound in the caves that had the same inky-black cloud-like cloak that her child had, and the fact it was paired with glowing eyes couldn't be coincidence. It was all the wrong colors, sure, bathed in reds and golds and the colors of a brilliant sunset that she had only ever seen in visions of the surface, and she could see a body under there, flesh and blood. Regalia had none of that, only ever existing as a floating mass that had resembled a cat.
It wasn't Regalia, but there was no doubt in Wilder's mind that it was its progeny. She had no idea that it had created a child - that was a bit of a terrifying concept. How many others had it made? Had it raised them to be like it, delusional, cruel, and superior to all things?
As time began to speed up again, Wilder had processed enough to at least not be caught staring slack-jawed at the feline being. She picked herself up to her feet and turned to face it, defensive but not aggressive. "Who are you?" Her voice carried the threat of a hiss. "What do you want from me? Don't try to lie - I will know."
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