ORDER VS CHAOS

SPECIAL FORCES

The crowd of Lessers present grew, even as the last threads of white spread out to claim the cave. Birds and bats, and now snakes--a Golden Charger with eyes gone white, its Stonerot venom a potent threat. And from behind: the click of Praetor claws. Her children had fought hard--had lost much, already--but their scrabbling, desperate defense had held. "Well done, my children," her voice whispered along the link, despite the distraction of distant battle.

Mother's voice rang out for all to hear, through the voices of half a dozen Echoing Grays scattered throughout the room:

"You are not... our enemies," came the eerie chorus. "We fight... the House of Chaos. Leave this place... and you will be unharmed. Do not leave..."

Their unified voice trailed off.

The two Praetors swept into the cave and spread apart, their towering forms marching for the group: a potent, and obvious, threat, and the end to an unfinished sentence.

---

Order has successfully claimed Gemini. This does not mean Order's characters are safe, if the attackers choose to press the attack. However, the Hivemind's lessers and Praetors are arriving, creating a real and dangerous threat for its attackers. Non-Order characters may safely exit the thread this round. Mother will prevent them from being attacked. Remaining in the thread will put them at risk. Non-Order characters who do not post this round will be considered having exited the thread; Wulfsige, if he does not post to exit and/or roll to defend against the previous Dream Dust, will be physically but safely removed by Praetors and left outside, but infected with fungus.

THIS IS A FREE-FOR-ALL BATTLE THREAD. That means that anyone may attack anyone else. A character who is attacked may post additionally to roll for defense against each attack, as well as posting once for their own single action. See the Order vs Chaos Master Thread for scoring and more information!

SCORE TALLY

0

203

@Ananke @Lamia (Wilder) @Jinyi @Halcyon @Yellow @Catalyst @Rapture @Wulfsige @Tourmaline @Astéri

There were few the swarm recognized here. They saw the clots of fungus in some, yes, but--ahh. LAMIA.

Mother's words only enflamed their fury hotter, and they swept for the siren, swarm angrily buzzing. They did not think to remain hidden, only to attack, although others present might not even recognize them for what they were: a Gembound. Lamia, however... Lamia would. Legion didn't care. They reached for their magic, instead, while they buzzed straight for the siren's mouth, and gills, aiming to buzz in and cast that magic on all the spores that they could reach. To fill Lamia's breathing apparatus with the very fungus that the Hive so loved to carry, to twist others to its will.

Fortunately, there was plenty of fungus here for them to work with.

The only questions that remained: would Lamia see the small hive coming? And--would she, could she, do anything to defend against it..?

@Lamia

Jinyi was as unprepared for the blast of pain searing through the hivemind as Ananke was. He flinched back in his high alcove, clutching his face as if he himself had been struck. But there were no physical wounds to match the phantom pain, and moments later, he could recognize--if barely, breathing heavily, and still reeling with shock--that the pain was someone else's. His sister's.

He felt her blind terror, just as he felt Yellow's helpless fear and rage, Lamia's uneasiness, and Halcyon's pained, embittered encouragement. It threatened to overwhelm his very sense of self, to pull at him until he was lost in the chaos of different minds and emotions. Still, he resisted the rush of different minds and tried to impart his own reassurance through their link: Ananke, Ananke. Listen--you survived; that's what's important. We can Reorder it all from here. Don't be scared--we won't let them hurt you again. His thoughts were simple and vernacular compared to the Priestess's customary noble diction, but that was the nature of a chip salesman. He tried his best to be reassuring in his own way, a cool spring of relatively-calm words within the chaos.

While his position far above the other combatants had protected him thus far, he was no longer content to attempt to assist by throwing rocks and controlling Lessers from far above. Their reinforcements had arrived en masse now. He didn't know whether their attackers would choose to leave peacefully, but the Praetors and the Hive's Lesser servants could take care of the fighting. Jinyi's duty now must be to use his Greater abilities--his magic--in whatever way he could to help his wounded siblings.

He slipped out from his alcove, wrapped his arms around the crystal tower, and slid clumsily down. It was fast, and mildly terrifying, and certainly clumsy (if he didn't have an exoskeleton to protect him, there would certainly be bruises where he'd hit bumps in the rocks at a little too high speed), but it got the job done: he was on the ground, where Ananke was. He wasted no time in rushing beside her, putting himself between the Priestess and their enemies to block her form from the sight of their magic users. Let them attack him next if they wished; he was mostly whole and had plenty of fight left.

Meanwhile, he bent down beside the white rabbit, thinking a gentle suggestion: Can you use your magic to strengthen the Hive? I'll try to heal you. Call on the strength of Order. We are all here with you. Don't be scared. And he willed the Hive's beautiful, Ordered magic forward, to mend the Priestess's wounds. To restore her to pristine, uninjured perfection.

A rush of relief as the magic took, as Order returned to heal the rabbit's burns. And then, as he stood and turned toward his other wounded sibling, a thought of calm, quiet reassurance at Halcyon: You've been so brave. Gemini is ours now. We will heal you, undo the damage done by Chaos, and return this place to Order.

@Ananke
note: roll takes place after ananke's strength of the hive attempt

That brief question along the link--the can you use your magic to strengthen the Hive? sent her into a determined rage. Her scream--one of agony, of terror--became utter fury.

How DARE they. How DARE they come here, attacking those smaller than them, those innocent of evil, those who had done them no harm-! "YOU-" she squealed, thrashing, throwing herself deeper into cover. "ARE-" and she called upon her magic, feeling Jinyi's supportive strength, his calm, pushed through her mind--

"MONSTERS!"

Her magic did not come--but something more miraculous did: the trickle of sight returning as the eerie power Jinyi had unleashed began its insectoid-like work. She blinked at the return of shapes and color, however faint at first--and bared long incisors at the world.

"WE HAVE DONE NOTHING TO HARM YOU! WE ARE A FAMILY! WE FIGHT CHAOS!" she squealed, and then parroted those things that Mother had long told them: "THOSE WHO WOULD TAKE YOUR CHILDREN! THOSE WHO WOULD DECIMATE WORLDS OF INNOCENTS! THOSE WHO DEMAND YOU FOLLOW THEIR LAWS, OR SUFFER! -AND YOU FIGHT US?!"

Her rage simmered, forepaws scuffling against the rock. "Fools," she seethed, the fur of her back standing on end.

She didn't have much warning. She couldn't really see Legion anyways, her vision still stained with light-spots from the explosion, only the angry buzzing suddenly in her ears, familiar enough to bring up old memories. And then they were flooding her mouth and pressing against her closed gills. Before they could go buzzing down her throat, however, she shut it, cutting off her own airflow, but also Legion from getting further into her body. And she was quite adept at holding her breath.

She could feel Mother's fungus blooming inside her mouth and she felt a rush of fury that this tiny creature that had ABANDONED them, abandoned their beloved family, would dare to try and use her beloved Mother's own bodies against her!

With at least some of the swarm still trapped in front of her closed throat, she made to also snap close her maw as well, pushing up with her tongue to smash them against the roof of her mouth. They were tiny and insignificant. Easily squashed. They were once a part of the Hive, once a part of Order, but they had rejected the gifts. Taken forcefully, perhaps, but they had never sought out the family again. Traitors! Traitors, all of them!

With at least part of the swarm crushed, she spat out their remains - whether the queen was included in that was not clear. "More traitors to Mother," she hissed. "If you want no part, then leave us!"

@Legion

It's all gone to hell.

Tourmaline's magic faulters and fails, the Order choking her. She has to leave, now. The Praetor's looming over her send her into a panic, as the horrible visage of the last ones tearing each other asunder lurks fresh in her mind.

She turns on her paws, cowardly, lunging for the tunnel entrance before its closed forever. She's saved only by Mother's restraint, allowing her to flee instead of die fighting.

Tourmaline doesn't dare look back.

Half of them did not care if they died. The Queen's fury--her longstanding terror and hatred of the other, false Hive--infused them. When Lamia began to simply destroy them--all those tiny lives blinking out--they had only an instant to decide what to do.

They tried--in a surge of panicked, furious inspiration--to force a banana to appear. It wouldn't choke Lamia--but the intent was for it to force open her mouth enough for them to escape. Their cloud was large, but they had no intention of suicide-sacrificing in order to kill only one drone. Her maw would be filled with furious buzzing and--hopefully--that banana as they fled, leaving some of their number crushed beneath her tongue.

@Lamia (escape attempt, for next round I guess-)

Despite the blast of magic that she knew had connected (the screams pierced through her ears and she tried not to be sick she tried not to think about how they burned, how she'd done that how she was the one causing pain now) she knew that the battle would be lost as soon as the Praetors showed up.

The voice of Mother resonating from the walls made Wilder feel even more nauseous. It reminded her of those days, when she whispered in her ear. The few days that she had spent under the Hive's control had genuinely been the worst days of her life and now it was like she was reliving it, briefly.

She'd frozen in her place underneath Aether, eyeing one Praetor, then the other. Then the fighters, still giving it their all and she decided then. She needed to leave. They all needed to leave.

She knew Wulfsige well enough by now that she wouldn't be able to pull him away from the fighting, not with words alone, so she tried to reach out with her magic to grab him and pull him away by force, to take him out of there before something bad happened to him. But the magic backfired and suddenly she found herself rocketing upwards into Aether. She yelped in surprise, knocking both of them back and scrambling back up with a number of "Sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that! Are you hurt?"

Once she was assured that no bad injuries had taken place, she hissed in and yowled out to the others, "Wulfsige! We have to go, come on!" She gulped, taking a few steps back, waiting to see if he would heed her warning.

@Wulfsige

ORDER VS CHAOS

SPECIAL FORCES

The Praetors remained, a silent warning, but no attacks came. Aether slunk back, teeth bared and eyes blazing, but stuck with Wilder. A guardian--her protector--lurking over her, shielding her body with black fur at every step.

Beyond this: nothing.

Silence.

Mother was a buzz of activity along the Hivemind link--arranging, organizing, instructing. The war in Leo was flaring, fading like a flash of dying star--fire and then ignition--and her focus was everywhere at once. To those here, she granted one last brief, distracted, but oh so loving instruction:

"Care for one another."

She would return to them, to their link and to their victory, soon enough.

---

Order has successfully claimed Gemini. All characters who did not post are assumed to have exited this thread. All characters may now safely exit, and may no longer be attacked.

Wulfsige will be deposited outside the cave, infested by Order. He will need to cleanse himself to avoid being turned into a Host, and may no longer post in this thread.

@Ananke @Lamia (Wilder) @Jinyi @Halcyon @Yellow @Catalyst @Rapture @Wulfsige @Tourmaline @Astéri