Cont. from Strike a Pose

The stranger- or "Opal" as he came to be called- laid limp in the grove for what seemed like days. There would be the occasional twitch of a claw or the flick of the tail, but, no matter what was done to him, he gave no sign of awareness. However, the burns on his body were healing remarkably fast without the aid of a chrysalis. Whether that was due to Doctor's methods or a genetic trait was unknown, but frankly, it not matter. Despite how well his body did, Opal did not wake up- it seemed like he would never wake up.

Until...

______________________________

The Opal blinked the film from his eyes; squinting he stared up at the dancing shadows above him. As his vision focused, he realized that the "dancing shadows" were actually gently swaying leaves. He was under a tree.

Wha-where am I? Groaning, he sat up. He felt sore and stiff, as if he hadn't moved in ages. Opal shook his head and blinked at his surrounding once more. There was pond, and some trees, guessing the bones scattered here and there, he was in Canis. That's right... He was going to kill Rezik, or did he already do that? He remembered sinking his teeth into the blue deer's neck.

He recounted his memory. He had attacked Rezik, then woke up here. It didn't make any sense.

What happened?

Opal rested his head in his claw. It felt foggy.. and quiet. Had his mind always been this silent? A certain presence was missing, a lot felt missing actually.

-Like pieces of his skin. The Opal didn't realize how beat up he looked, just that his wounds were covered in bandages.

Had Someone been taking care of him?

What happened... to me?

@Auré @Giggle @Desert Rose Thirty-Five @Kerberos

Giggle pushed up. She wasn't always here--but she'd come, a few times, to try and wriggle into the Opal's dreams. Every time she'd tried she'd found too deep a sleep; healing had taken him far beyond dreams, it seemed, at least when she'd been present.

But now it was waking.

"I wouldn't move too fast," she advised. "And I wouldn't do anything stupid, either."

From the moss-covered, crumbled wall beyond, Omen perched and watched; but aside from this speech, Giggle said little. There were fruits and plants about, if the thing ate those--if not, someone could bring it rats. And there was water. So there was no point in her playing hospitable and pointing it all out in case it was thirsty, or hungry. She just waited, instead, to see what Opal had to say--and what the others might say, too.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

A voice nearby grabbed his attention; a hyena, with ruby gem on her forehead. The Opal stared at her for a moment. Dark circles rimmed his glassy, yellow eyes.

Did he know this gembound? She seemed familiar, especially her jaw line.

"Who are you?" He rasped. The Opal coughed. His throat was a cracked dry and felt harsher than Hydra. The eel gulped and drew in moisture from the air. It was easier than getting up and drinking from the pond. Like a wilted plant given its first water in weeks, Opal perked up, his skin now glistening with a healthy sheen of mucus.

Despite this, he still felt unwell. The Opal wasn't sure if he was famished or nauseous, or nauseous because he was famished. Either way, he wanted to vomit. Still, he tried his best to not appear weak in front of the hyena. She was no Overseer, but at this point, it was force of habit.

@Giggle

Giggle lay down quietly, still a few yards off--still not sure about this one's motives--crossing one forepaw over the other. She watched him curiously; he was suffering, that much was clear. Physically, maybe mentally--she couldn't tell for sure.

"My name's Giggle. I'm one of the Bonebound here in Canis. I'm not going to hurt you, unless you attack me first," she added, "but I'd ask you not to leave until we know what the hell is going on. In case you forgot, you knocked Rezik into his chrysalis. We were tasked with guarding him, by Astraea. On pain of death, or trial or some shit, so you can see that some of us are a little upset."

She shifted in place, a little, wondering how far off Aure and Eythan were, whether they'd want to be here for this. "AURE?" she bellowed, and then nodded to Opal. "Our Bone King," she explained. "He'll probably have some questions for you."

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Aure

Aure was elsewhere, lying by a boulder near the fortresses and gnawing on a rat - taking a break from watching over the still form of Opal and waiting for any changes. There'd been only a few, other than proper bandaging of the wounds to keep infection at bay and some shifts and turns as if in restless sleep.

But, his mother was calling, and the young King's ears snapped up immediately to trace its guttural sound. The lowness of her voice carried it across the cave, and Aure grabbed the nibbled-on carcass by the nape. Within a few wingbeats, he was rising and fluttering rather quickly. His flight path was fairly low to the ground, if only for the relative shortness of the trip, just enough to keep the rat from scraping the ground too much.

The wyvern scuffled to his feet once they could touch grass, and he gave Opal a brief once-over. Aure bobbed his head once, and gently placed the rat carcass by the fruits offered already (he could catch another one for himself, later.) "I'm - happy to see that you're awake." He figured Giggle had already introduced him, but he did so anyways, "My name's Aure." The King's beak clicked once or twice as he thought, tail swaying once or twice before he lowered his head and voice, "I'm so, so sorry about the pain I caused you. I... realized that that wasn't the way to go when we were - trying to get that fungus out of you."

The first step was always communicating, and that required him accept when he was wrong and had made a mistake.

@Opal Three-Seven-Six

The hyena, she called herself "Giggle". He studied her as she spoke, taking in her words. They were surreal, like hearing a story about another Opal 376, except this was no impostor. He had done all of this, according to the hyena, but he would have never done this alone, and unbidden.

Something was missing.

The Opal blinked. So, I failed. His heart sank. Astraea was going to be furious, and he had never known a Master to be merciful. Opal stared at the ground and choked."I'm... so sorry."

He didn't know what more to say. It was too quiet to think straight.

Through the haze of reality, arrival of the Bone King grabbed whatever attention the Opal had left to spare. Scrambling to he feet, he winced at pain in his leg and realized his foot felt stiff. His yellow eyes flicked warily to the wyvern. He didn't know what he expected from the Bone King. A scathing interrogation, perhaps, torture. If he was lucky, just a slap on the wrist.

An apology sure wasn't it.

The Opal did not speak, not at first. Instead, he slowly peeled off his bandages. All over him were splotches of strange, green, burn scars. Some were still healing, evident by the white film of slimy dead skin surrounding the sores that were left. The Bone King did this? He limped to the pond and peered at his reflection. Staring back was the husk of a champion. He looked like he felt; ill, hazy, broken. His tatter fins were full of holes, like they had been munched on by caterpillars. What... happened to me?

His head pounded. He didn't remember any of this. Maybe that was a mercy.

Fungus? There had been a fungus in him?

Fungus... fungus...

A memory stirred within him, as hazy as a dream- no, a nightmare. A white, pulsing mass, tendrils stringing through flesh- their chains. A voice, kind and loving, demented, whispering in their skulls, manipulating them. Opal felt sick.

"Mother." He finally said. The eel turned from his reflection, back to Aure. "We called her-it... Mother.

@Giggle @Auré

Giggle's brow furrowed, some, dark eyes darting over Opal's face as she studied him. Studied his words.

Mother-?

She instinctively stretched out her mind, trying to press it into Opal's thoughts, to see what he saw. It'd probably be clearer than his broken, obviously-traumatized hesitation, at least. But nothing came of it--there was a twist of... grief, there, or something like that, that kept her out. Or had that been her imagination?

With a huff, and a glance at Aure, she turned toward mundane speech.

"What was it that you called Mother? -The blue creature that I saw?" She kept her voice as slow and patient as she could. She knew what it was like, coming out of something terrible, though it was hard not to rush for answers. They had waited for them for days, as it was--but she forced herself to go slow.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Aure

Opal looked like a deer caught in headlights, scrabbling to his feet when addressed and looking so utterly confused by an apology. His eyes were glassy, dazed, mind backtracking over wounds he did not remember. The young King didn't expect any response from him --- it was possible the whole experience had been so traumatic that he wouldn't remember it.

But, finally... Mother. Something referred to as such, the memory spurred by the mention of fungus. While Giggle failed to reach into the eel's conscious, Aure made an attempt, a gentle push into the mind. It was feeble, offering only fleeting insight and flashes of things relived. A sickly mass, stringy and white and festering like the fungus dredged out of Opal. Many voices in discordant harmony, all manipulated by one strong current, pushing them in one direction.

Aure recoiled and shut the link with little but a flick of his ears. The wyvern swallowed thickly, brushing against his mother and calling to both of them, "no - it's... it's that fungus. That's Mother. It was... manipulating him." His tail swayed uncertainly, voice forced to be even (but so sincere) as he called to Opal again, "I'm sorry."

@Opal Three-Seven-Six

Oh no, Reji.

His heart sank when Giggle mentioned her. And the others too. "Mother" still had them. Opal may have been freed, but he still cared for them. For cycles, there minds have been intertwined, so much so that Opal did not where his own thoughts began and where the others' ended. Though the Hive felt like a distant memory, the familial bond he shared still lingered. "How long have I been out? His voice trembled. Every day it grew stronger. He remembered Astraea saying something about taking over their minds and turning them into husks. Was it too late to save them?

"And don't apologize." He croaked. He hobbled over towards the rat Aure had brought. "I was the one who attacked you. He inspected it with his claw- good, no fungus- but his stomach still churned at the thought of eating it.

The Opal sat down. "I will tell you what I can," He paused, closing his eyes as a wave of dizziness rushes over him. "but.. my memory's not what it used to be."

@Giggle @Auré

Giggle shrugged, a little, casting a glance briefly Aure's way.

"A few days?" she hazarded.

"I'd say to tell us what you can. I've had bad shit happen to me, too, so I know what it's like," Giggle went on. "Things get... jumbled. Confusing. Crazy." She remembered her thoughts, tumbling frantically over one another in a baffling array of colors and emotions, remembered being unable to make sense of them, at times.

Never mind that, now.

"We need to know whatever you can tell us, though. All we know is, there was a blue creature in your mind, you said you were betrayed, you had fungus in you, and you called someone--the fungus, then?--Mother."

Giggle paused, again glancing at Aure.

"Help us connect the dots a little."

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

@Aure