Black stepped forward, pendulous ears pricking up, blue eye fixing on the pale altar.

He himself shone pure, alabaster white; and he realized, after a moment, that everything was negative here. He gave a soft woof, a sort of grunt of surprise, and then padded closer. The shatter-scream of Max's crystal had startled him, but little more than that; and now he pricked up one good ear and one tattered one, trying to listen to the whispers.

Trying to understand him.

They, more than anything, drew him; he wondered what the voices were trying to say. He felt as though if he listened-... just listened, for long enough, he might begin to understand. As though they promised knowledge, secrets, important for the Black Dog to learn.

And patience had ever been his strong suit.

Quiet, he approached the altar, testingly tugging at his own magicka as he went.

Shadows bloomed around him: unnatural darkness, illuminating the entirety of the small room in strange, reverse white, a dead-light bone-white that should not be.

Black looked around in wonder.

"It is Void," he rumbled softly, reverently. It was... linked to him, he felt. He had, since his hatching, been Void. A black stone, a black hound, possessing magic that pulled blackness to him. And now black was white, and shadows, light; and the whispers promised him things-...

Black stepped to the altar, and then slowly lowered himself to lay, sphinx-like, before it: his body, like the altar, gleaming a pure, dead white. He watched, and listened.

And he waited. He would wait here, in this cave: wait to see what the stone had to tell him. What it had to teach him.

What it would, once he grasped its murmurs, say.

The dog's ears perked up, and he looked back at the lizard, calling out a cheerful "Hello Squishy!" more than happy it had followed them.

And then loud, he yelled, flinching, before whining "My shiny :C" and hoped the nice pokey man wouldn't be too mad at him for breaking the nice necklace, tilting his head to listen. If he listened, he swore, he could understand. His eyes hurt, everything twisting and turning around him, and he shook his head, squinting in the darkness.

And... and oh. He whined wantingly, legs stiff as he approached, deaf to the others. He dropped to his stomach before it, whimpering quietly, and stretched out on his side, staring at it unblinkingly, still aside from the rise and fall of his chest.

Corruption: +3

Qisziux heard the person who they bumped into growl, and a whap in the air right above his head. He softly hissed back, but did move away, towards the back of the crowd. It was totally just to keep Oka company. Definately.

The screaming, shattering necklace made Qisziux jump, but when everyone else seemed mostly unbothered by it, he tried to look unbothered as well. The not-light of the altar room was unsettling and disorienting. He quietly stepped forward, protectively, in between the mysterious altar and Oka, despite the fact the snail was bigger than he was.

The whispering curled around him, promising him power- no mistakes, not even again, just perfect power. But upon seeing the others react to it- the cat, who made a big speech about the power, the black dog, who sat next to the altar like a guardian, and Max, who whimpered quietly and laid in front of the thing, he became to doubt it.

It is power. He concluded, But it will control us, if we ask for the power.

He glanced back at Oka, back at the Altar, and hesitated. "This is... creepy." He whispered softly.

"Spoken Words."
Thoughts

tags: ---
notes: Hes getting spooked.

coding by wulf for template purposes

Oka cringed. at the whine of the crystal breaking. They did not like the voices, they seemed to drill deep into their mind. They craved to listen deeper, to understand just what they were saying, if anything. But that wanting, it wasn't normal. It wasn't safe. The way Black and Max sat, unquestioningly. Totally loyal to these unnerving voices. That...that cat. The things that they said. None of this was normal. They wanted to go back to Eridanus, home.

Where things made sense. Where there were no whispering voices. Qisziux was the only one that made sense. They were grateful of the lizard's protectiveness. It made them feel safer. They edged closer to them, feeling on edge. "Yeah." Things flickered in their vision. None of it made sense yet. Their vision flickered from black to white, with moving shapes that almost resembled...something. People. Hurting one another. Sprays of blood in vivid grayscale. They didn't know what it meant. Why they were showed this. They wanted to understand. They didnt want to understand.

"I dont like this..." Oka whispered. "I dont like this." They repeated, louder. They began to crawl backwards, retreading their trail of slime. "Everyone, lets go. This....it's not normal." They were new to the world, but they knew instinctively that all this was not natural.

Another vision flickered within focus, terrifying the snail halfway back into their shell. The caves weren't supposed to be like this. The caves were safe. As fast as Oka could manage, they whipped around, trying to tread back up the cavern. "Lets go, Qisziux." They feared the darkness of the tunnels, but they feared this strange negative realm even more. And having a gembound older than them to help guide them would be even better.

((changing this into an exit bc another post would be redundant))
--exit oka

With the presence of the Gembound, the whispering swelled until it was a soft rhythm; a thumping heartbeat susurrus. Soft, yet the sort of sound to resonate through the mind, and through the body, it continued with an ageless pattern.

Those who remained would undoubtedly fall more and more into its embrace. And those who left would remain touched by what they had seen and heard.

___________

This ends the Hole: Pt II. Gembound may exit as they see fit. Those intending to gain corruption to further progress the plot must do so on-screen, noting their tally of corruption points as per this thread. Initial contact with the Dark Altar has granted all Gembound present 3 Corruption points.

@Max @Black @Qisziux @Oka @Purity

Black will be remaining in this thread indefinitely.

Day 2

Black remained, and would remain.

He slept, regardless of what the others did, but only after he could keep himself awake no longer. His every thought, his every particle of being, was focused on trying to understand the whispers of the Altar.

He forgot his children, even; or the only thought he passed their way deemed them safe. They will be well, he decided, absently, in a moment of brief near-awareness.

And then back to staring, listening to the Altar.

He would uncover what it was saying, this message meant for him. These whispers, from the darkness, for the darkness. He lay bone-white in the surreal void, and he listened.

Tally: 6 corruption

There were doubters, of course. Purity's head fell to the side, eyes squinted to the dissenters of the group. "Cowards." The word was quiet as he straightened. "Cowards! You don't know what this thing holds! Of course this isn't normal; and we are going to understand it. Use it." The last sentence held a rough tone under it, but he made no move to stop them as they left.

"Go. If you want- if you're afraid of the unknown." He turned his attention to licking his foreleg, cutting the attention to them away.

Day 2

He was, perhaps, one of the more active beings of the others who remained. Despite his antagonistic speech he was quite silent by now, rumbling to himself as he let the whispers speak for him. Their silent ideas curled around him. He was infected with their thoughts- tainted by their taste on his senses.

The canine had remained, and Purity found himself growing restless. As much as he dreaded to leave, he fluffed up his fur as he let out a toothy yawn from his laying position, pulling his claws under himself. 'It would be best to eat something.' He looked to the dog- he had no need to feed a stranger. If that dog wanted to eat, he'd find his own food.

Purity gave himself a few quick slicks to his fur where it'd stuck out in odd places before stepping out of the crevice in search of a meal- food or not.

;exit unless stopped (for now.)
+3 [total: 6]

Day 2

Max was only vaguely aware as the two squishies bailed, leaving, too entranced by the altar. He stared at it until his eyelids grew heavy, and then dozed until the next day, then woke up to stare at it again.

And then turned to peer over at Black, slowly crawling over on his stomach, stretching his head over the other dog's neck to close his eyes, trying to doze again, but the cat walked away, and he opened his eyes, yawning. "'m hungry, black dog." he said, "Getting food, bringing some for you."

The dog stood, shook himself and gallumphed out of the cave.

-temp. exit Max, unless stopped-

@Black

Corruption: +3

Deli

Stepping before the strange, dark altar, and looking down at their paws - looking at white instead of black, orange instead of blue-green on their pads...it was strangely intriguing. They wondered, not about what power this place could have, or what secrets it might unveil, but what their paintings would look like if they brought them down here.

They snickered to themselves. What about painting things down here and then taking them back to the surface? That would certainly be interesting! And the voices they were hearing, the strange flashes of movement in the corner of their eyes, they couldn't help but admit that it was fascinating. Maybe they'd find inspiration in this dark place. They sat themselves down before the altar, then, set their bag on the ground and pulled out the thin slab of rock they carried, and began to paint.

Day 2

Deli didn't focus on the whispers - certainly, they were interested in a deeply disturbing way, and they listened, but they were far more interested in the painting they were finishing. It took a while, with all the detail, but they were painting the altar and the gembound that sat around it, as well as the others who had left. With the last, finishing touches, they completed the image. They wanted to stay - stay here and listen, an urge that felt like something other then their own commanding them to stay put, but also, they didn't. Because they had things to get back to, paintings to finish and others to start, people to mess with and a life to return to.

Their grin widened and they stumbled to their feet. They didn't want to leave. They wanted to listen. They wanted this to continue forever, but impulse had them on their feet and leaving up the tunnel without a word, if only to see the slab in the light.

And as they left, and the urge to stay there left, at least a little bit, they looked back at the hole with wide eyes. What the hell was that place? The whispers weren't stopping, just more distant and hazy now, chaos raging stronger in the back of their head. They chuckled and looked down at their painting - one of their finest small pieces yet - and stashed it in their bag. They needed to leave this place before things got worse - or better?

*exit
got six points, baby

---

It was getting hard to focus on Oka's words, between the quiet whispers just begging him to listen closer, and flashes of greyscale scenes of horror seen just out of the corners of his vision.

"I'm no coward!" Qisziux spat, glaring at the mainecoon, "I'm just smarter than the rest of you guys, if you can't tell this is bad!" He turned his back on the altar, and the others, following Oka out of the tunnels.

"Spoken Words."
Thoughts

tags: ---
notes: Exiting thread.

coding by wulf for template purposes