Cocytus emerged in Polaris from the Crystal River, clutching the mushroom-gemstone-leaf sandwich in her jaws. As always, the air was practically humming with magic. She could feel it - both with her magic-sense, itself magical, and with the energy that now pulsed through her even though she had just traveled all the way from Pegasus. This will be a good place for you, she told the gem in its little mushroom-hollow. Even if her theory was wrong and it would not, in fact, absorb the latent magic in the air and live once more, Polaris would at least be a more dignified resting-place than where she had found it, buried beneath layers of mud and sediment.

If my soul could rest here when I died, in a place filled with magic and rainbow light, I would be happy with that.

A morbid thought perhaps, but if Polaris was good enough for Cocytus, then hopefully it would be good enough for the Bayldonite too. She climbed ashore, heading inland to search for a proper place for the gem. Too close to the Crystal River, and it might be swept away again. Besides, both of the lives that she had seen in it had been land creatures. Cocytus assumed they would appreciate being on dry land again.

@Madhukar

Madhukar had a lot of bad memories here. They formed a dark cloud in her mind, taunting her with memory after memory... no, she did not like this place. Too much had happened, and now that pulsation of magic all throughout the room and throughout her veins felt frightening rather than refreshing. Madhukar had had it drilled into her head that she ought to avoid the fear, find a way to be calm somehow... she knew that instinct was right, so she let the magic of the room help her with one spell. Just one. She knew it like the back of her hand.

Her rising fear must've thrown her off, or perhaps the magic in this room really wasn't what she thought. Or maybe she just wasn't concentrating? Either way, the rain that pitter pattered down was nothing more than the lightest of drizzles. That was kind of annoying, actually. There was plenty of moisture to draw from, and Madhukar knew this spell could be done in here for a fact. So, well... no idea why that's the way it was.

But maybe Madhukar liked it better that way. It didn't mess with her costume, which she was wearing in full at the moment. She wasn't necessarily trying not to be seen. The reason she was full adorned in moss, mushrooms, mud and bones was for the same reason someone wears every layer of clothing they can to an airport. She was traveling somewhere specific this time, and didn't want to carry much in her hands.

Speaking of carrying something... what... was that creature carrying? Looked like... a mushroom? Oh no. Um... Suddenly the drizzle wasn't very calming anymore. Maybe if Madhukar steered clear... didn't call out or anything... maybe the creature wouldn't notice her? Ah... Well, she didn't have any other ideas, so she would try to... meander on by... quietly.....

@Cocytus

Madhukar is costumed! She is wearing a roughly-cut wooden mask, and she's covered in moss, mud, plants, and bones, kind of haphazardly. It's hard for her to move in the full thing. The goal of the disguise is to cover up her cat-like or otherwise recognizable features.

Madhukar is also... tiny! Like 3-4 feet tall, I never quite decided (hehe). So essentially she might look like a pygmy swamp monster right now.

Also, thank you for the magicka for a Give Life spell :,D

Cocytus paused in her search for a suitable location, looking as confused as an alligator could get with its limited facial expressions. Her magic-sense had been extended so she could feel for places where the magic was stronger, but there had been a shift in the nearby magical energy all of a sudden, and now... there was a drop of water on her face? And then another. It was raining?

Granted, this was barely a drizzle, but Cocytus was certain there was something distinctly magical about the rainfall. She had felt it. And the source, the thing that was driving the raindrops, was not the faraway Spire. Nor was it the energy of the room itself - at least, not entirely. Cocytus turned around, searching. The magic seemed to be emanating from -

From -

From a... thing, with a... thing on its face, and which was covered with... all manner of things. Cocytus stared, utterly bemused. Covered in moss and mud as it was, it looked like it might have emerged out of a swamp, except she didn't think Polaris had swamps? It walked on two legs instead of crawling on four like Cocytus did, and seemed a little less tall than she was long.

But no matter what manner of creature this was, Cocytus knew for certain that it was powerful. Even if the rain that fell from the ceiling was thin and faltering, it had to take incredibly strong magic to alter the weather of a room like this. So when she spoke, it was with a properly awed and reverent tone. "You have powerful magic, Rainmaker," she said, gently placing her mushroom-gem sandwich on the ground so she could speak clearly. Then she glanced down at it, considering. With someone so skilled in magic... perhaps this soul would not need to wait so long for rebirth after all. Cocytus removed the leaf covering and nudged the mushroom toward the rainmaker. "This is a lost soul I found. It laid forgotten in Pegasus, but it was a deer in a past life, and a glowing creature in another. Perhaps, if it absorbed enough magic, it might live again. I apologize for being so forward - but would you be willing to make such a gift?"

@Madhukar

It-- they, they, that's a person... right? Gosh, Madhukar needed to be calm right now if she was going to try that spell Tahi-shei was talking about. She knew she could do his other mushroom spell though... But-- wait, wait, they were talking, approaching. Could Madhukar trust that-- called her... Rainmaker? Knew she was powerful... Okay, how did they know that? They could have magic-sight like Sunny... could also be Infected. Not that Madhukar knew how an Infected person could know about her power unless Mother had gotten that information from Mother. Was that a thing it could do? If it had been in his brain, and also in every other brain it inhabited, could it transfer that information-- wait, how could it know who she was while she was costumed?!

Now it- it? It was placing the mushroom-looking thing on the ground. Saying it was a lost soul in Pegasus that needed magic. What... did that mean? Her magic?? Her magic was lightning. Did this creature want her to blow up the rock??? Or just like... put some rain on it? Panic was racing on low setting throughout Madhukar's mind, making this situation harder than it probably had to be. She just needed to be able to see if there were bad mushrooms around...

"Don't think you want mine." Madhukar said, backing away slowly. She was being honest, as well as hoping this might get her out of this potentially dangerous situation. "Hurts." That was the best she could do in the way of "explaining".

Gah! This would be so much easier if she could just check for mushrooms-- but this wasn't the time or place for meditation. Quick, what did mushrooms want? Growth? Growth, right? Grow, grow grow, GROW! And grow they did. A few harmless little white caps to the side of the mushroom-something sandwich. Madhukar paused for a moment to stare. In another scenario, that might have been kind of funny. "...Usually not that." Gosh darn it.

Madhukar would look around for any form of escape... she really didn't know what to do here. Run? To where? Would it- uh, they chase? How fast could they go? She kept remembering the raid. She kept wishing he were here. But he wouldn't be here... she was on her own. That was always the scariest part honestly. Being alone.

@Cocytus

Cocytus blinked. Several times. "Your magic… hurts?" She tilted her head upward, rather conspicuously, and glanced at the the continuing drizzle. Then she looked back at the moss and mud-covered Gembound. Hadn't they made that? Cocytus hadn't been imagining things, right? ... Were they hurt? She had never heard of a condition that would cause pain upon using magic, but this one didn't look as though they were in pain…?

A small cluster of white fungi sprang up next to the alligator. She stared. First at the randomly appearing mushrooms, then at the rainmaking Gembound, then back at the mushrooms again. Her mind finally made the connection, and Cocytus felt around with her magic-sense rather belatedly. The white-capped fungi did not even show up as a blip on her vision. What she got was an unending torrent of magical presence, beating at the edges of her mind. Cocytus gritted her teeth and slammed her eyes shut, though that did nothing to stem the roiling waves of magical energy.

… yes, I get it, Polaris is very magical. I knew that already, thanks.

A moment passed, and Cocytus opened her eyes and spoke through a stabbing headache: "That made magic mushrooms? I do that too. I wish I could make rain. Do you hurt? I can't tell if you look hurt or if the thing on your face just always looks like that. Is that your actual face I'm sorry your face is as pretty as rainbows." She was vaguely aware that she was getting off topic - what was she talking about again?

MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC, screamed her sixth sense.

SHUT UP, Cocytus screamed back.

"I meant making the stone magic. Not mushrooms. But if you hurt I can try asking the Spire really nicely and maybe it'll do that. Please don't hurt."

@Madhukar

Your magic... hurts?

Wh-- n-no, no no wait-- then came the mushrooms, which the creature seemed just as surprised about as Madhukar was. Then the creature started acting... weird? Closing its- gah, closing eyes, looking uncomfortable... did the mushroom's existence hurt them somehow? Or had Madhukar accidentally manage to do what that big deer had done at the raid -- used the mushroom spell to get rid of the Mother in people and that was hurting?? So had Madhukar just cleansed them?!?!

Except they kept on talking as if an evil mind-controlling fungus hadn't just been removed from their head, so either it hadn't been removed or it wasn't there. And also Madhukar had embarrassed herself. And misled this creature into thinking she was hurting. And-- wait, her face was what?! Pretty????

Madhukar now wished she had the power to create a hole underneath herself and just. Disappear. Goodbye. No more talking, no more interacting, no more weirdly non-threatening potential danger. Just void and nothingness. Gosh, maybe the loneliness really was the better option. At least in loneliness there wasn't this terrible, unexpected combo of embarrassment and fear caused by her own shortcomings. Good grief. Also, she felt a little flustered?? Mostly confused and suspicious, but somehow her face being called "pretty" had gotten to her, which was extremely weird because she was wearing a mask.

Okay, okay, okay, how to remedy this. Give this person what they wanted and then make a break for it? But if it was a trap, Madhukar would be falling directly into it. Although not everything added up to prove this creature was in fact Infected... AGH. AGH.

"N-no, um. Hurt others. Not--" Ow, ow, ow, when could she stop talking, her throat felt so soar-- "me. Uh- back up." That was a start. If the creature could back away, Madhukar could get to the item without fear of contact. But, shoot, wait, it could make mushrooms -- wait why would they tell her that if they really Infected and this was all an elaborate plan to infect Madhukar -- oh my gosh just. Just. Breathe. Just take a breath. Tall order, but she had to try... "Going to-" Feel pain in her throat, that's what she was going to do- "-magic."

Madhukar would breathe in deep before attempting to approach the mushroom-thing sandwich. She would stand a little ways away from it and attempt to concentrate. It was different from drawing a string or drawing a breath. Mushrooms felt more similar to letting it go-- well, grow, in this case. 'Grow... put not on the soul. Grow somewhere else.'

With unexpected ease, Madhukar got the mushrooms to listen. They grew, sure... but it wasn't what Madhukar had expected. Nothing showed up that looked like what Tahi-shei had described as Mother. In fact, what she'd just done here was actually really confusing, since she didn't have any real way to tell whether she had done it correctly or not. She would look over to the creature, her own expression fully covered by her wooden mask, hoping they had indeed backed up as requested. They were probably just as perplexed about this whole situation as she was. Um...

@Cocytus (next round Mau will give life)

The side effects of her spell were thankfully beginning to fade, and clarity slowly returned to Cocytus' mind. The other Gembound reassured her that they weren't hurt, which was a big relief. Cocytus shuddered at the thought that they might have hurt themselves because of her request, then shuddered some more at the dawning horror of realizing what she'd just said to this person. "I'm - glad you're okay," she managed while scrambling back several steps, glad for an excuse to back away. What had she been thinking?!

MAGIC, offered a remnant of her spell very helpfully.

Cocytus watched as the masked - yes, she was sure they were masked now that she was thinking clearly but it was a nice mask too - Gembound repositioned themselves closer to the gem-mushroom sandwich. Unconscious anticipation built up in her chest - she was almost tempted to use her sixth sense again, but considering how well that had gone last time, she decided against it. Would it be an impressive show of magic to breathe life into a gem, crackling with energy and blue light like the Spire? Or would it be more subtle, more invisible -

More mushrooms. Huh.

"…they're very nice?" she offered. "Um… I like mushrooms too." Perhaps in a show of attempted mushroom solidarity, Cocytus reached for the same spell. But her magic did not come - why is it being a brat right now? and she discarded the idea as her headache threatened to return. "I grew the one I used to sandwich the gem, you know," she said instead. "We could - grow some more together later, if you want?" That seemed like a nice way to thank them for the gift of magic, right? They did seem to like mushrooms a lot.

@Madhukar

This stranger seemed nice... but really, Madhukar was not in the trusting mood. Not now, not here, not really often if ever. Tahi-shei had also seemed normal-- well, off, but... she knew him. What he was like. Or so she had thought. She wouldn't be able to tell with a stranger without magic, and she couldn't do the magic she wanted to use so-- AAAAH!!!

Thankfully, the creature did back up. And they didn't react aggressively to Madhukar's attempt at cleansing the object -- maybe it's because they know you can't do it well -- so... that was slightly less suspicious. Or potentially even more suspicious. Just as much potential to be terrifying as it had to be innocence-proving. Cat's not dead or alive until you open it. In that case, Madhukar just had to keep treating it- them like it-- no, them, as if they were both Infected and not Infected at the same time.

Which meant Madhukar keeping her distance and not believing a word they said.

Compliments to the mushrooms. Seeming coy -- pretending like it doesn't know you've messed up to hide the fact that it knows, that's some good manipulation there but we're not falling for it -- and attempting to share their own... mushroom making abilities? Oh dear, they really were severely misinterpreting the situation here -- possibly on purpose so keep playing along -- and it was driving Madhukar's nerves up a wall. She wished she could talk but it just... hurt to! Nothing could be done about it.

Something had to be done about this rock though. Now that it was here and Madhukar was here and it was all... happening. Madhukar briefly considered the surprising and suspicious request of the stranger's to grow mushrooms with her later. That was such a weird thing to ask?? Just an odd thing to say if not Infected, but especially odd to say if Infected because it was kind fo like asking for consent to Infect her???

Okay. Okay. Do what she had to do, then get out of here. "Good mushroom," Madhukar said, like the most socially awkward person on the planet. It was really hard not to blame this creature here for getting her into this mess -- I mean, was it not the stranger's fault... entirely??? No, not entirely... Madhukar would've been angrier about it as a kitten. Now she was just accepting her fate. OKAY. Focusing on the rock now.

Madhukar would lean down and touch it. How to put magic... into a rock? Was she supposed to like, strike it with lightning? Put some static on it? For a moment, Madhukar would feel an impulse... an instinct. She would close her eyes, draw back her bow, and release. And... she'd feel something leave her. Unsure of what, Madhukar's eyes would rapidly blink open as she stared at the rock, now... shining.

Shining.

Shining rock.

What did that... remind her of...?

Madhukar would back away fast, then close her eyes and listen to her head. 'Anything in here...?' A moment... another moment..... and....... nope. Just her. Her and a memory of Doug-- oh.

"D-Did I do it?" she'd manage to get out, but now her throat was tightening and her voice was betraying how far off her thoughts actually were. Holy heck. Oh my gosh. Had Doug...? Had Doug--?!?!

@Cocytus (i'm so sorry for the length of these posts hghghg)

The Bayldonite with its translucent green crystals had last belonged to a massive beast most aptly compared, perhaps, to a whale. But whale it was not, despite its some twenty-five-foot length. Its hide had outmatched the crystals in brighter, light green hue. The stone, where it had been found, had perhaps washed down from Fornax or maybe the last bearer had gotten stuck in Polaris's river.

It had borne five large, olive-green eyes. Spines ran down its back, long and thin, and a single tail-fin (Mosasaur-like) propelled it. Two pectoral fins and another large fin along its abdomen, like a rudder, aided it in steering its massive bulk. Despite its fearsome appearance it was herbivorous, probably spending its days grazing on large sea plants.

That didn't mean it was without defense: it was radioactive, though resistant to its own form of radioactivity; but any creature close to it would grow ill after hours, increasingly sick after days and in extreme cases, be returned to the chrysalis to heal. Feeding on it, eating its flesh, would have undoubtedly been very dangerous or even deadly.

@Cocytus @Madhukar

Good mushroom, said the masked Gembound, and Cocytus thought this interaction was getting more and more bizarre. Not that she had anyone to blame but herself, since she was the one who had approached a random magic-master to ask them to donate magic to a random gemstone. The stranger was kind, at least, and had agreed to her request. The effects of the magic transfer were immediate: the lost bayldonite began to shine with the light of new life, and the gemstone-now-chrysalis had rooted itself into the ground.

The masked one sounded more nervous now, for some reason - their words seemed to choke off in their throat. Cocytus wasn't quite sure why - the donation of magic looked like it had gone successfully. "You did it," she said, in her most reassuring tone. "Thank you so much." The gem had been granted new life, another chance to live and breathe in this world, and she was immensely grateful for that.

So, of course Cocytus had to act in accordance with her gratitude, and show it in the only way she could think of.

By growing some mushrooms.

There would have been nothing pernicious about the fungi she had intended. They would have been harmless things, little clusters of white caps identical to the ones the masked one had grown. Would have. IF her magic had decided to cooperate. Instead, her headache returned with a vengeance, and Cocytus clenched her teeth together. Enough magical exertion today, for real this time. This was why the masked one was a master of magic and she was not.

She took a few steps forward and nudged the bayldonite with the tip of her nose. It was rooted firmly to the ground now, and she could not move it. In time, it would birth its new body into the world, but Cocytus felt no need to stay with it. She herself had hatched alone, after all, and she'd turned out fine. So, without another word, she slunk away toward the Crystal River, off to find a home for herself in some other cave.

- exit unless stopped, and @Madhukar for visibility?