How long had it been since this started? How long had it been since Dia claimed her crime of infecting her with this blindness? She no longer knew. The days ran together like rivers of water rushing to the sea. She had wondered blindly from Polaris, bumping walls and being completely lost in this maze of blindness. The flat ground was a small relief. Tripping over herself wasn't as bad. Unfortunately, she found herself feeling stuck again, standing in one place with her butt to a corner shaped in the wall.

Why? Why did this happen to me? I never did anything to her...

The tapir's eyes glazed over with tears. Penelope was still unable to grasp this. Her vision was there one moment and gone the next. The more she thought about it, the more the tears filled her eyes until they overflowed and she began to sob. The more she sobbed and dwelled on it all, the harder and louder her gasps, hiccups, and crying noises became. She was still young, but now she was young and blind, and the world no longer felt safe or joyful. There was no curiosity left in her, because she no longer knew how to explore, to see things.

This world is so dark... I feel... so cold...

- - -

"Speech"
@Louie

"Booker Speech" "Louie Speech"

"Home" was in the opposite direction of where he was travelling. Rejuvenated by his stasis, the Spire was calling to him. It was where so much of his time had taken place. During his own pilgrimage and subsequent banishment from the others within Origin. Louie hadn't yet come to truly accept that he was now on good terms with Booker. It was weird, almost an alien feeling. All associations of love with the numbat had been tainted by hatred and disappointment in himself. Still, he harboured those feelings, but no longer did they bother him so much. There had been many curiosities over their conversation.

STRANGER. NO NAME
LOUIE

Meandering slowly, he took in the sights with his blessed regained eye. All the clarity of the world had been forgotten before, but now it had been regained. Whoever had thought to pull this joke on him would be sorely mistaken. Whatever forces had been acting to heal him had made a grievous error and he would make sure that they would witness the suffering.

MONSTER. MURDERER

There was a soft crying, it caught his attention and his ears flicked sideways followed by his snout as he glared into the darkened shadows of the tunnel he was wandering through. Lips curling, he hadn't been anticipating others. Not just yet, he hadn't prepared for them yet. Soft pawsteps gave no sound as he advanced upon the place where Penelope was coming to grips with her own blindness. The sad irony to the situation had yet to be lost on Louie as he leaped onto a rock and examined the tapir.

"Who are you?"

WHO ARE YOU
DEMON. KILLER

Penelope felt nothing, but pain within her heart. The sobbing wracked her body. As it carried on, she began to shiver, but not from any chill. She felt weak; she felt hopeless. And as a voice came from and unknown direct, she shoved herself back into the wall even more, as if trying to merge with it. Her eyes darted and shifted, head turning, until she remembered she would not see anything. Her gut hit rock bottom and she felt nauseous.

"Please," she began, blubbering through her tears. "...please don't hurt me. Please, please."

Her begging was as pathetic as she felt, her body shaking. Then, her legs gave, her body collapsing to the floor as fear and anguish filled her up. She laid her head down, squeezing her eyes just in preparation for a death she was not ready for, but almost wanted. "Please..."

- - -

"Speech"
@Louie

"Booker Speech" "Louie Speech"

So weak.

MURDERER

It left a bad taste in his mouth and he spat on the ground in front of her, repulsed by her display. Pathetic. Maybe he should wipe her off the face of the earth to save Origin from yet another of those who were weak. Wynry had been his first. Abolished for similar reasons. It had made him giddy after the fact. It had made him giddy and guilty. But in the end it just felt so good.

MURDERER. STRANGER

"Doesn't really answer my question mouth breather. Waste of oxygen." Complete and utter useless piece of. Pleading was just making him shake his head further. That was no way to get out of death and it wasn't her pleading that kept him merely watching her. Killing her would be a waste of time. That wasn't who he was anymore anyway. Wynry was a mistake. Hasira had shown him that, but he had always known. There was no glory in killing with no goal. There was a goal now, attainable, but it would take some time.

MONSTER

"Do you have a name." Flashbacks to memories with his stone and Booker caused his jaw to set in place. Now wasn't the time to be thinking of Booker. Booker was also a mistake. His whole life was mistakes. It was learning to live by them and do right by the rest of his life and surpassing what he was. A sack of shit.

"Do you have an allegiance?" Caution laced his words, they were close to Pisces. Morons and lovers made up that group and he would have no dealing with a child from their band.

Her shaking didn't stop, especially as he insulted her. Fear was displayed over every inch of her body. She curled her upper lip over her lower lip, trying to quiet her sobbing with not much luck. He requested her name again and she gave a small nod, dirt sticking to her chin, turning to mud with her tears. "P-Penelope," she stuttered out, still not sure where the voice was coming from.

She pushed backward harder, feeling a sharp rock cut into her skin. Blood beaded up at the cut, but she didn't care. Pain was pain right now. Nothing in the world was right. Everything was so dark.

An allegiance? "No," she said quietly. Her wet nose collected dirt as well, now. She wanted to hide. To crawl into a dark hole, because what was the difference at this point? There was no more curiosities anymore. Not for her. There's nothing left for me.

She opened her eyes again, pupils paled by the disease that blinded her. Her head turned, finding the wall beside her. She used her snout to feel it, trying to search for some kind of hope. She wasn't sure why she thought it would be located there, but nothing was right anymore anyway. Who knew. Her head rested back on the ground, her eyes staring off into space as the crying came to a soft end, tapering off as her eyes ran out of tears and her body out of energy.

Maybe I should ask him to kill me.

- - -

"Speech"

"Booker Speech" "Louie Speech"

Penelope. A sweet an innocent name for a creature who expressed such qualities and he had to stop himself from scoffing. There was no innocence in Origin. Dirtying herself with blood and bodily fluids he just wrinkled his face more. What a mess, but he happened to catch a glimpse of her eyes and his blood became frigid within his veins.

FATE

Moving off his pedestal, he came down beside where the tapir lay. Dwarfing him in comparison, he felt no fear as he came up close to her face. Eyes narrowed, he tried to get a good look at her unseeing eyes as she stared off in the distance. Blind. Whatever this creature was, her pitifulness obviously stemmed from her lack of sight. This was no Magdalena. No one was as strong as the borzoi woman who captivated him. Penelope was a tool, perhaps something useful or something he had to leave here in the dirt.

TRAITOR

"Blind. So sad. Nothing left for you to live for I suppose." Carefully he paced around her side, avoiding the powerful hooves that could lash out and knock him to the ground. New flashbacks came of Hasira and his hackles raised, voice moving up an octave as he spoke next, "No allegiance. No friends. What do you have but your element." Louie was dancing around his pressing question. A wielder of plants was better off dead, he would send her to cave demons peacefully. Honourably.

"What is it you possess. No use beating around the bush woman. Tell me what you were gifted with on the day you were born." It was weird dealing with a fully fledged gembound rather than the weaker and still developing gemlings. Leaning up against the stone wall, he curled his tail under himself and sat down. A master of his own domain.

Nothing to live for. It seemed that perhaps he was right, but his voice still startled her and she threw herself onto her feet. She was near her 600 pounds, but still not quite there. She lifted her head slightly, snout lifting to flehmen. Her sharp canines made her look like she had the bite of a dog, but her incisors confirmed her herbivore ways. The smell of a fox.

Suspicion rocked her, his prodding questions and insistent belittlement getting to her. Her ears adjusted, trying to get a bead on his location between sound and smell. She was too unpracticed for this. What was she to do? She tried to trust her own feet as she jogged away from her spot and spun around to face where she thought he may be. She flehmened again and backed up a bit more, relieved to find that she hadn't nearly ran herself into the opposing wall.

"W-What's it to you?" she said shakily, trying to project the confidence she didn't have, trying to end his reasons to insult her further. She lowered her head and snorted, dust blowing up from the ground. Her blind eyes twitched, unbeknownst to her. She looked at - well, no - through him.

Her mind was so fragmented, so out of control. Her gem sparked, a slight glow that came and went, whispers given to Louie's mind that were not his own. Arcane. I - Arcane. I w- -is to end. The whispers were broken, her strength failing her. The glow faded, her eyelids sank halfway as depression took hold again. Confidence plummeted as did her hope for survival.

- - -

"Speech"

"Booker Speech" "Louie Speech"

Those movements were fast and the vulpes had to make sly moves to get away and into what he would consider safety. A click of his tongue as she continued to sniffle and cough and try her best to fend him off. Physical attacks hadn't yet started, he had no intention to as while she was weak, she could still sit on him and crush him.

COWARD

Did it really matter what it was to him? Penelope had no choice in the matter and he found himself chuckling slightly. Whatever, she didn't have to if she didn't want to. All he needed was one. But the words came so faintly and he knew instantly they weren't his own. Iliad pulled the same mind tricks, but he knew that he was bound to the same bacterial world he was. It was merely an added gift he had obtained. Something from the Arcane family. A gift.

COWARD

"Arcane family. A powerful element though rare within the caves to my knowledge. Have yet to meet someone who is affluent in its gifts." Maybe she wasn't, but telepathy would come in handy definitely. But he could use his own son for that and he wondered if there was more, "Prove to me you aren't just a one trick pony." If she had merely gained the magic through an incident such as his son, then she was as worthless as he first thought. Louie's gaze bore into her, despite her eyes not seeing him back.

Penelope backed a couple more steps. Why did she need to prove anything to him? Her blind eyes narrowed in consideration. She pawed at the ground, trying to decide her next move. What was this fox up to? The sly trickster seemed to have something on his mind, but she was oblivious, which was not blissful. Deep breaths filled and left her lungs. She was still scared. She was so afraid.

So what was it that possessed her to approach him? A flicker of curiosity. It bubbled up, familiar to her. He wanted to know. She wanted to know. So she cautiously approached him, ears forward, sure that he was right there where the click of his tongue was. She paused, short of him, then reached out her foreleg, odd, fingered foot reaching out to touch him, but missing him. Still, she held it out, hoping that perhaps he would close the gap.

- - -

"Speech"

"Booker Speech" "Louie Speech"

Fear still hung in the air like a thick fog, but it was broken momentarily as the tapir stepped towards him, her front leg extended in a gesture to touch him. Louie recoiled backwards, a hiss sliding from between his teeth but she didn't go any further. Tables had turned quickly and his discomfort over being caressed was obvious. Whatever mind games she intended to pull he wasn't having any of it and his hackles remained raised.

IDIOT

This was his only chance to see if she really did possess whatever it was she said she did. Arcane magic. Something he wanted so badly within his control. Right here in front of him stood the vessel that he could use. Get her to come back to Merry Men and contribute to its strength. The telepath and sooth sayer. Hesitantly, he moved forwards but only extended his forelimb to place on top of her hoof.

DANGER

"If this is a trick herbivore I will slice you open." Everything was on edge and he teetered slightly.