Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

death

This thread is by request, with the intention of--depending on rolls--killing one of the characters involved. It will have mature themes, mostly revolving around disease.

Wicker stood quiet, staring into the crystalline pool beneath the waterfall. He was in a good mood--a cheerful mood; this was a new place for him, and he was hoping it might have a new strain of disease for him to play with. Or to mutate. Or to create, with the clarity and cold some sort of inspiration. He would have to create something, and grant it to a rat or mouse. But would he release it afterward? Spread his gift farther? Or was it the sort of thing he'd watch play out, content with his generosity, and then consume? He had not yet decided, but seeing the results of his work was always beautiful.

While he wasn't an outright sadist, he'd never really connected suffering with disease. Logically it was the case, but there was such a wondrous, bittersweet poetry in it all that he'd wandered, doe-eyed and lost in artistry, through a line of writhing Lessers.

Time to add to his arsenal? LET'S SEE, he thought, and reached his magic questioningly for the water.

He gathered up what he found there: bacteria, as with anywhere; and he inspected it with his magic, turning over a hundred little cells in a matter of seconds with powers his conscious mind would never have been able to replicate. His magic found one, potentially dangerous. Not enough on its own. A Gembound might have lapped it up, swallowed it down and never known what their immune system, or stomach acid, or whatever else, might have killed.

But Wicker turned it over and over with awe, then bent down. He drew it into himself carefully, threading the cool water that drifted down his throat with magic, embracing it. He took it into himself, altering it, replicating it, changing just enough features that it would do what he wanted it to. Rot. Necrosis. Cold flesh; not so much pain as simply death of the tissues.

YES, he thought. THIS IS THEMATICALLY APPROPRIATE. And it was; as he lifted his head and looked around, the idea of crystallizing, bitter-cold flesh seemed perfectly fitted to this cave.

@V-Hiddenite-One

V-Hiddenite-One had finally awoken recently on the beaches of Leo. It fully intended to head back to Draco, of course. Yet, he paused in combined horror and wonder at the sight of Gemini. The cave should be gorgeous, yet instead it was coated in the fungus of Order.

It paused as it sighted another being. Some would have recoiled in horror from the horse that looked half-rotted, but V-Hiddenite-One only peered at the being with curiosity. "Hello, friend," he greeted the stranger.

"Do you know what happened to this cave?" he asked, since he rather doubted this being was a creature of the Hive. He was too much the things that Hive abhorred, unlike V-Hiddenite-One who much to his dislike could have fit in with the 'pure' beings of order, what with his fluffy white fur. He was glad for the Hiddenite on his cheek that marked itself as asymmetrical.

He hoped that the Chaos Forge was still around. Surely it was, he thought. The idea of it not existing was impossibly painful. He wondered how Labradorite was, distantly. The other had tried to care for it, when it was still small.

A puppy, so small in comparison to the creatures of Chaos. And he was still so small, fully grown. He was not good enough, even with magic, as his personal failure in Leo had proven.

@Wicker

He turned, roused from his pleasant trance by the sound of a stranger's voice. A look around and he'd settled glowing eyes on Hiddenite. "HELLO," he greeted cheerfully. He turned, head dipping down a little to come more to the dog's level.

It occurred to him already that this creature might be a fine recipient of his would-be epidemic. Would it be happy, to experience the ecstasy of its rot? Blessed, to feel the wretched fury of its death throes? Oh--but a question. Distracted, he lifted that great head again, looking around him.

"ANOTHER MAGIC. I DON'T KNOW WHAT. THEY CALL IT ORDER, BUT I HAVE NEVER KNOWN ORDER." Had never cast it, he meant. Had never felt this 'order' magic for himself.

He looked back down. "IT IS GOOD TO HAVE SOMEONE HERE. I AM WICKER, AND I HAVE A GIFT. WHAT IS YOUR NAME--AND WOULD YOU LIKE IT?" He sounded genuinely pleased--and he was. The honor this stranger might hold, being the first to be given such a wonderful, such a perfected strain!

@V-Hiddenite-One

Glowing eyes regarded V-Hiddenite-One, and V-Hiddenite-One regarded the other back with its own dark eyes, pleasant. It seemed this other was informed enough to know that Order existed, and was the cause of this cave's infection, but nothing more.

"I am V-Hiddenite-One," he introduced, but he was well aware that was a mouthful. "You may call me Hiddenite, if you wish. It is a pleasure to meet you, Wicker."

Though not necessarily cautious, Hiddenite was a curious being. "May I ask what kind of gift it is?" he inquired, curiosity piqued.

@Wicker

"HIDDENITE," Wicker repeated back, as if savoring the name. "IT IS A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU TOO." He swept into a low bow, one knee nearly touching the ground, muzzle likewise.

He'd remember that name. If this one chose to take his gift, and didn't survive it--or returned to their gemstone to meditate on their wondrous experience--he would remember it. "IT IS SOMETHING I FOUND IN THE WATER HERE. THINK OF IT AS... CRYSTALS. PRECIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL, BUT FORMED OF MAGIC."

He was not lying, of course, and maybe that might make him seem more harmless. More genuine--because he was. Wicker turned, shuffling back to face the pool, dipping his head down to stare into its crystalline waters. "IT IS BEAUTIFUL WATER--IS IT NOT? AS IS THIS CAVE. ITS GEMSTONES. FILLED WITH COLOR AND LIGHT," and his tone was full of awed appreciation.

@V-Hiddenite-One

For dogs, bows were naturally a playful motion, but Hiddenite could recognize that this odd horse meant it as a way of acknowledgement. Still, its fluffy curled tail wagged. It was always a pleasure to meet someone friendly.

"That sounds a lovely gift," V-Hiddenite-One spoke honestly, regarding Wicker thoughtfully. "If you think I would like such a gift, then I would happy to receive it from you, Wicker."

"It is indeed a beautiful water... I only wish the cave was not so covered in Order..." he thoughtfully regarded the cave... but he did know if his spells would clear Order.

Perhaps... He tried reaching for his magic, to try and drain the magic from the fungus, but the magic recoiled, hitting him instead, and he felt himself losing some his magic, quite painfully. A yelp left him.

He fell to the ground, groaning in pain from the backlash. "Friend, Wicker... I think, I made a mistake. Tried a spell..." he murmured, voice fuzzy.

@Wicker

Pity struck him, concern, and it was quite real. He stepped forward, head lowering down, peering at the dog. A spell? And it had failed? He could see nothing visibly wrong, and wondered what it was; did Hiddenite perhaps carry its own gifts-?

But then, if he were weakened, it primed him for the gift. Ah-! What joyous serendipity! "YOU WILL BE ALL RIGHT," he assured. Although even to himself, he was wondering how to define 'all right.' Head still low, close to the dog, he sent out his cloud of the new and beautiful bacteria. Sent it swirling, churning, and he imagined with wondering joy the beauty it would have shown had it been visible. "THE GIFT," he said, without quite explaining, and pulled back some.

Surely it would be exquisite.

note: this bacteria is intended to necrotize flesh, hardening it as it dies

@V-Hiddenite-One

It was not as sudden as it might have been, despite Hiddenite's weakened state. "Gift?" he murmured, confused, not recognizing anything crystal-like. He continued his distressed pain, until suddenly the pain type shifted.

Suddenly, there was something eating away at him physically, not magically. He yelped from pain and surprise both as he looked at his paw, decaying. It hurt, it hurt. Desperation rolled through him, first. He attempted to gnaw off his own leg, trying to separate himself from this pain, even it meant the loss of a limb.

But it spread past where his teeth were gnawing, and he gave up, whimpering and yelping as the pain became less or more. Mostly, it became more.

Some was on his face now, he realized. On the side where his stone was. He might... genuinely die, not just chrysalize.

...Crystals. He gazed at his hardened skin that had gone past decay until crystalline shape. "Ah, Wicker..." he choked out the words. "I think... ah!... your gift is... going to kill me." Because this was the gift, and it had infected his face.

It was slower growing there though, compared to the rest of his body. "Did you... intend to, kill me?" he wondered, curious to the end. He had not detected any deceit the other's demeanor, but he might have missed something.

He whined. "Might... as well tell. This... gift, it's spread to my face. My stone..." he trailed off. It was only a matter of time, really.

@Wicker

He lowered himself to his knees before V-Hiddenite-One, and then lay himself down--still upright, but on his chest and belly, watching him with rapt and respectful eyes.

"IT IS?" he asked, but he sounded less surprised than pleased. "I WAS NOT SURE. IT IS BEAUTIFUL, ISN'T IT?"

Wicker gazed at Hiddenite almost lovingly. His voice was soft as he answered. "WHETHER IT IS ONLY SICKNESS, OR IF IT IS TRULY LOSS, OR DEATH... GRIEF... IT IS EXQUISITE, IS IT NOT?" A gift, yes. "SO MANY LIVES ARE WITHERED AWAY, WITH NOTHING ACCOMPLISHED. NOTHING GAINED. SUFFERING... FOR NO PURPOSE. BUT YOU-... YOURS IS A POINT OF AGONIZING BEAUTY. YOURS WILL BE REMEMBERED."

He paused, then, looking the dog over. His pain was clear, and a stab of sympathy struck Wicker, then. "I WILL MAKE IT FASTER," he assured him. Rushing such a gift was something of a travesty, but he had no desire to draw it out, either. It was beautiful, but he was not deliberately cruel.

A wash of magic passed from he to Hiddenite, an attempt to make the death... if not painless, at least relatively quick.

@V-Hiddenite-One

V-Hiddenite-One was a gembound that had been hatched with a great curiosity from the very beginning. He was not judgemental, either, if a gembound had confided in him that they found death beautiful, even this kind of death, Hiddenite would have simply taken it in stride.

Perhaps, he thought distantly through the pain, he should find this more off-putting. He was dying. And yet, Hiddenite held this confession as close as any others it might have received. It was also somewhat comforting, that even if the Chaos Forge would never know his fate, he would be remembered.

He would be remembered as something beautiful, even, not the failure he might instead be.

"Remembered..." he voiced this thought in a whimper, despite his significant pain at this point. He gave a whine. "Remember," he repeated it surprisingly intense this time, despite his pain, like the word itself was a vow.

Its gaze closed, not minding whether his death was quick or slow, but... appreciating that Wicker responded to its pain, even if he was also the cause of it.

It was painful, but it ended abruptly as the necrosis in his face tore away his gemstone. No longer was V-Hiddenite-One bound to this gem.

His life was gone. But it would be remembered. And perhaps, one day, another would be bound to this gem of hiddenite.

[Exit V-Hiddenite-One to death]

@Wicker