This time, it had been Madhukar who had urged Tahi towards Polaris. He wasn't sure why this had become an unofficial meeting place for the pair -- neither of them lived here. (Well, Tahi-shei wasn't sure where he lived, but it wasn't here.) He'd figured it would be a good idea to compare notes, sort of. He'd been learning a lot from Giggle lately, and it was clear there was something Madhukar really needed to tell him. He'd drawn her over to the river, with his back to the drop-off as they settled in its bend. The generator was just beyond his shoulder.

This was the same place he'd come to study electricity. It was a place that he was honestly quite fond of.



@madhukar

BACKDATING THIS THREAD TO BEFORE THE RAID FOR TIMELINE REASONS

Learning and growing, these two seemed to do.

Madhukar had woken up that day feeling... vibrant. In a way she couldn't explain. As though that wealth of emptiness in her had finally been filled with a cornucopia of power, grandeur, everything she'd hoped to be returned to her and more. She just felt like she had to be here. And she felt like if there was anyone that had to witness it, it had to be Tahi. Her study partner. Her first non-confusing friend.

In contrast to Tahi, this place and its constant buzz should've been a great comfort to Madhukar. Unfortunately the memories it held for her were often of a sour tone. She'd been pushed into the water here, she'd electrocuted herself into her chrysalis here. Or close enough to here. It didn't matter, the intricacies didn't count. Today, she would change it though. Today that buzzing would becoming comfortable again. Today, she would wash away the pain she'd been battered with every time she came near this place, and she would wash it away with her own magic.

With a STORM.

"Tahi! Tahi LOOK!" She would eagerly try to direct the stag's vision upwards, where her own eyes would be. Where her magic would be, trying to draw moisture from the river and the air, into the beginning of a storm... rain.

It began to drizzle, and then, it began to pour.

@Tahi-shei

Tahi had not been expecting the untimely rain, but he did follow her gaze upward at her insistence. Whatever she had to show him, it had to be good--! He watched silently as moisture was drawn upward and began to gather, and then a drop of water fell on his nose. Then a second, and a third, and suddenly it was raining in Polaris -- Tahi gaped down at Madhukar. "No way. You're doing that?!" He hadn't even considered that to be a possibility, but here she was, making rain in a whole cave.

Madhukar was probably one of the most powerful Gembound in the world, he decided. She just had to be.



@madhukar

Madhukar was very happy to see Tahi's excitement, Tahi's awe of her ability. Her excitement matched his, bested it even. "Yeah! No done ye'!" Her grin began wild, electric. The sky should be electric too! But not yet! Not yet. First a grand entrance. The lightning had to have its trumpet of fanfare!

Little did Madhukar know that it usually worked the other way around. Ah well, that's how you knew the storm was magic indeed!

BOOM! The thunderclap was loud, rang throughout the room. Madhukar's eyes flashed with elation, magic coursing wickedly throughout the sky. This was her orchestration, her creation! And how thrilling it was, how maddening it was to create. This weather was her beast, pieces of spells patched together. Lightning in a bottle, and Polaris was the bottle.

@Tahi-shei

He shuddered at the rumble of the thunder, reminded of their meeting. Madhukar had been strong then, but now she was something else. Had that really been only a couple of cycles ago? Hard to believe how far she'd come -- how far they'd both come. "This is awesome!" he gasped, his ears flicking away the raindrops as they hit them mostly on instinct. He looked pretty silly, but then again, he usually looked silly.

His eyes were wide. This was a very intriguing power -- but it fit her well, the storm clouds and thunder and the inevitable electricity coming on the eve of it (not that he was anticipating what kind of electricity was coming next).


@madhukar

A blast from up above, perfect! Tahi lauded her strength and she beamed, giggled even, under the blanket of rain and thunder. One last act. "One more," and with that, the cat looked at several spots on the ground far away from the two of them. She did not want this to go astray; she would have her lightning sky, and there would be minimal destruction.

And... release.

A flash of burst from the clouds above, spearing the ground with startling malice. A swarm of similar bolts followed suit, a barrage unleashed upon the ground in the distance. Madhukar's eyes were locked, her paw pads sweating as she poured all of her concentration into controlling each jolting arrow. She had not predicted the strength of the beaming javelins. They showed their overwhelming vigor by scoring the ground with shallow black craters of singe.

When it was over, Madhukar felt frozen in place, paralyzed by her own show of force. The grin had fled from her expression, replaced by quivering whiskers and frightful eyes. Terror, mixed with something else... awe.

"N-Neve' did tha' before..." Her voice was soft, reverent even. And then, Madhukar grew distressingly quiet, just like everything else seemed to be in comparison to the squall overhead.

@Tahi-shei

Tahi-shei froze like stone when the lightning started. Dangerous magic, he knew, and he was wary of being hit by it. Not that he didn't trust Madhukar, but he certainly didn't trust her magic and that trust would probably not come for a while. But, she didn't hit him.

She came damn near close, but she didn't hit him, and that meant she had control. His eyes lit up. "Madhukar! Look at yourself!" he breathed. "You just controlled insanely powerful, deadly magic! You've come so far, Madhukar. I'm so proud of you!" Control came in steps, after all, and he looked down at her. "Here, sit down for a minute -- you look tired."

@madhukar

'YOU CAN'T JUST MURDER A CHILD MADHUKAR!'

'AND FOR WHAT? YOUR RAGE?! SCREW YOUR RAGE!'

'YOUR POTENTIAL IS YOUR OWN.'

Spiders. Spiders. Spiders. Everywhere, all over the place, spiders. Coming towards you. And what do you do?

YOU DESTROY THEM.

Madhukar blinked. She was told to look at herself. She looked at her paws. She was told she just controlled insanely powerful, d̴̢̢̺̭̹̓̓̐̾̓̒̂̍́͐̓̈ḛ̸̠͈̼̝̭͇̇̊͗̂̈́̈́̿̔͒̐̓̑̂̈́͘ą̶̛̟̺͇͈̻̫̣̦͙̲͙̥̮͌͐̍͒̈̿̌͂̌d̵̛̬̻͈͉͔̤̣̣͉͎͉̦͓̾̎̃̆̋l̵̛͉̯͎͛͐̄̉̊̔̓̌̒̐̈́̋̚͝y̷̛͙̤͙̯̪̩̹̽̆̽̑͗͆͘͝͠ magic. She'd come so far. He was--

Madhukar collapsed into a sitting position. She wasn't... she wasn't. She wasn't sure. What was happening--

'Are you really in control here?'

Her eyes stung. Her vision was blurry, something hot was running down her face. She didn't like it -- wanted to swat the things crawling down her cheeks away like flies but she couldn't. She looked around. She looked for Tahi-- she found him. Eyes landed on him, glistening, wet. Was it the rain? It had to be the rain. Why was the rain so warm...

"T--" she sniffled. Was she catching a cold or something? "Tah--" 'D̸̢̨͓̺̮͉̟͔͎̼̐̈̃̿̈́̃̄͘͜͝O̵͍̥̤̤̗̽̂̈͆͂̆͐͊̂͆͂̂͝ ̵̨̨̠̜͔̩̄͛͗̾͠Y̸̨̧̩̪̬͖̺̖̲̩͛́̉̌̈́Ǫ̷̱̳̙̰̖͕̼̻̻̹̒̎̏͊̏̍̐͗͗̀̕͘͜͝Û̶͇̮͎̫͙̩͓̋̾̔̏͋̋̀͘͝ ̷̡̫̣̞͎̩̖͖͔̼͈͈̖͊̅̈̀R̴̨̢̠̥̱͖̯̫̙͈̼͕͎̄͊̂̿̈̋̕̕ͅȨ̴̛̦̼̫̦̺̱̗̦̻͉͕̫̗̺̽͛̌̉̋̾̄̔̂̕Ą̵͓̱̥̙̗̥̟͈͚͕̹͊̏̾̋̊́̉̏͐̀̽̒̃̎L̶̢̢̧̟̘̞͔͖̠̤̓̍́̎̂̇̃͐͠͝L̷̪͈̰̬̜̰̫̞̒̉Y̶͐́̐̽͂̂ͅ ̴̩̣̙̦͎͍̊̌̋́͒̅̅̅T̸̡̳͍̝̝̪̭͌̎͜H̸̭̩͇̟̗̀̈͌̈́̈́͊̃͜͠Í̴̧͕̚Ń̸̯͕̖̘͚͚̭̫̮͙̊̒͆͠͝Ḳ̵̡̢̛̱̻̲̜̌̃̈͜͜͜͠͝ ̸̡̗̟̺̞̳͕̩̪͉̾͗͊̂̀̈́̊̌̂̀́̾̉͝Y̵̲̮͙͌́̎̃͊͌̀͊̌͝O̶̭̖͉̠̩͌̊́̍̇͊̋̈́̽̂̂̈́̾̕͝Ų̷̤̪̙̦̬͔̠̮̙͍̽́̔͒͜'̷̯̰̮̙̘̫͍͕̇͒͆́͛̄͑͝R̷̡̨̹̦͍͖̗͓̞͎͖̪͉̙̳̈̒̽̌̍̍̍̌̔̕Ë̵̢̢̺̜̦̣̰̘̻̗̭͓̣̼̾̋̎͐̓̈́̈̇̿͘͘͝ͅ ̴̤̖̾̈́I̷̢̓̊̚N̵͕̟̫͆̈́̊̀̓́̕̕ ̷̗̜̮̩̦̖̖̂̄̓̇̍̌̏́̄̉͑͌͘͘͜C̷̢̭̰̘̻͈̥̱͇̳̩̬̞͇̿̎̈́̓̋̂̇͂̍͝͝ͅÒ̴̠͙̯̬̥̌͜ͅN̷̹̟̮̾̂̈T̶̢̛̛͔̩̩̰̼̩̐͋͐͐͂̀̏̊̀̓̚̕R̷̢̭̲̖̹̟̝͕͖̰̲͑̀̍̂͗͌̽͌̈̄̈ͅƠ̶̛̹͒̐̂̈́̔̇̇̓͒͛̈̒̊Ľ̵̞́̄̈́ ̷̦͎̖̩̺̼̲̦͎̘̖͌͒̆̕͝͝ͅḦ̷̨̪̦̺͈͉̗̙̝̈́̍͒͆̆̋̒̕Ḙ̴̛̻̣̲͇͑́͆̅R̸̠̜̲̞͉̣̩̪͍͓͕͚̲̱̀́̽̅̿͗̄̕Ẻ̵͖̼̗̙͍͇̰͋̔̓̽͘̕͠͠ ̸̡̪̱̺̺͐͋̇͒̆̈͐̌̇̑͒̓͝Ḿ̴̡̝͇̻̟̩̟͖̲͈̩̈́̓͗͝Ă̴̛͍̏̚Ḑ̴̜͔̩̰̾́̈́̍̑̽͂͝H̸͈̻͂͂̽̾̽̋͒̀̉̍͘U̷̡͇͕͎͖͇͙͎̙͛̇Ķ̷̢̝̥̤̺͉̪̣͕̇̾͗͜Ą̸̘̼͝R̶͓̲̈́̈́̑̾͆̇͘͝?̴̨̨͚̟̜͈̘̝̅̈́̈́̋̑̂͝͝͠͝'

A wad of something in her throat choked out her words. She coughed. No bile? No electroball? What was this...

"I--" But this time it wasn't just her mouth that didn't want to speak. It was her whole body. Which was beginning to convulse, by the way. Beginning to... to cry. Why? Why? She didn't... know.

@Tahi-shei (haha i thought this would be a nice fluffy happy thread whoopsies) (nah it'll be okay!! Madhukar is learning more about herself uwu)

Tahi's sanguine expression faded and he was immediately rushing forward. "Madhukar? Hey! Hey, focus-- listen, breathe, okay? Here, uh-- uh--" He couldn't purr like her, and didn't have anything like soft edges or fluffy fur to wrap around her for comfort. He was wholly unsuited to comforting anyone, except maybe by nosing at them, but he was worried about hurting her and she got a little... explosive when she was overwhelmed. So he made a split-second decision, thinking a silent prayer that this wasn't considered breaking his promise, and tried to calm her down the hard way.

But no spores ventured from his pelt, and he swore under his breath. "Umm, hey, hey -- focus on me, it's okay, just, uh, take a deep breath? Focus, right? N-Narrow your focus and-- hey! Madhukar, I've been wondering, how's your bumblebug search going?" he asked, his tone changing suddenly to something a little overly curious. A topic change tended to help him when he was overwhelmed.


@madhukar

Tahi was with her in an instant. That flash of lightning strikes had zapped the sanguine air to nothing more than dust. Dust in the air. Dust that stung her lungs, her eyes...

She focused. She focused. She tried to focus, she really did, but she didn't want to-- 'LOOK AT HIM MADHUKAR! LOOK AT HIM DO IT NOW!' But her eyes snapped away, she wasn't looking at him, she couldn't. Not like this-- no! NO! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! EVERYTHING I LOOK AT GETS-- 'OH SO YOU'RE ASHAMED NOW--?' NO! Madhukar began to sob.

'Focus.' A memory of an electroball sliding out from her parted jaws, hitting a rock. Hitting the face of that terrible Cat. 'Focus,' and suddenly that lightning was on white fur, DESTROYING it--

'FOCUS!'

And the cat scrambled back suddenly, ALL the way away, wanting to be as far from touching Tahi as possible -- terrified out of her mind. She didn't hear the questions. She didn't hear the tirade of questions. All she heard was rumbling, screeching, blasting in her mind. And that was when her magic decided to try and strike...

BZZzZZZzZZZT--!!!

All around her, all over her body, wrapping around her body from ear tip to toe. Electricity.

She was in a cage. Too afraid to take a step forward.

Trapped.

@Tahi-shei