Disasters. All other gems only brought disaster. The angel and her demon cub she so vehemently protected, that coyote that set itself on fire, every female he'd ever met, all the way back to the devil wolf that howled at his birthing- all were demons, set to make his life a hell. His curse made him fear the sound of other gems, even lesser ones, fearing losing his mind to the blithering idiot in him.

Thus far, he'd learned that it was far safer to have this ragged piece of cloth over his eyes. All of his problems with meeting others originated from his eyes, so, he would just have to get used to not seeing anything. He couldn't trust his vision anymore.

On the other hand, walking around a bloody forest with no eyesight was as much of a terror as not. He tripped, he fell, he was muddy and soaked, tired, and bruised and scratched from various things he'd collided with. He was glad he'd escaped from Cetus, with is disturbing mist that almost seemed to clutch at you when one was so low to the ground, and the whispering hum of life under the water.

He also smelled horrible from Cetus. He couldn't be happier he was away from that horrible place, the figurehead of all his problems.

He didn't know where he was going, he just wanted to get away. To fill the silence while he did so, he reached for his magic instead of his voice like he always did, but it alluded him like it sometimes did. It almost had a will of its own on whether or not to work, and he learned long ago to not put any pride in it.

DOVEFEATHER

i'll be your guide so you can see the other side
then I will never let you get away never let you get away

Delicate, careful pawsteps tread the familiar path of branching ferns. A stink was floating in the air that nearly made the small, dainty feline almost stop in her tracks-- a smell she remembered. One that had nearly gotten her and a strange, blind gembound killed.

Scents, however, urged her to press forward to See. If she was correct, some sort of stench had climbed out of Cetus and into Eridanus. A half-pink nose twitched along the monochrome expression of the whiskered gembound as she prowled closer to the sound of someone bumbling blindly through the thick undergrowth of her home.

"Hello?"

The mewl escaped her jaws before her senses got the better of her-- and if it was not for the... canine? Practically crashing into the path, she might have cursed herself for being careless. Immediately she relaxed at the site of the odd creature, blinded by some sort of strap around his eyes, and knew that he was not used to being blind. Not like that strange leathery mouse creature... The bat. Right.

"You look lost."

The words came from her again without thinking, but as soon as they escaped through her pristine, pearly gem teeth a thought began to dawn on her.

Why in the world was a creature smelling of Cetus blindly stumbling into her home?

What small, gentle purr that was crawling through her pelt, died with that realization. She stared at the muddy mess of a dog, stuck by her fanatic, cult-plagued mind. Without her figurehead-sister to guide her into more pleasant thoughts, and the sickness of the All Mother, the kitten seemed to be drawn to worse and worse conclusions by everything around her.

words:....... nyah
tagged:....... @Basil
ooc:........... listen
muse:........ 10/10 tbh

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

He crashed through the underbrush, busy fighting with murdering the bubbling pride that kept coming up when he thought of his magic - he remembered when he had created this booming echo around the coyote, scaring them into awe - but he had to suffocate it before it could get the better of him and become another curse to bear. One was enough, and he had to take his pride and drown it before it could grow.

So focused on this that it wasn't until he heard the soft, pleasant female voice until it was almost right next to him, wondering if he was lost. He immediately and violently crashed and scattered away, skittering with all four paws till his spine and the back of his head hit a solid tree. His claws raked the ground, and he heard the crunching leaves - that, and the female was all that his world essentially contained.

"Ge-get away from me!" He snarled with his dry, cracked voice, ill from major disuse over his life.

Again, in his haste and fear and initial flash of undeserved hatred, he ripped at his magic, and the gem over his heart flashed and reacted violently in response, and instead of sound, it caused a horrible CLAP just like it had before with Fallah. He cried out, unable to hear his own sound, and stumbled around the area deaf and blind. The painful ringing in his ears laughed at him, calling him a failure, mocking him for remembering his pride.

"Must you take everything from me!?" He yelled at the ground, the only target he was sure of.

@Dovefeather

DOVEFEATHER

i'll be your guide so you can see the other side
then I will never let you get away never let you get away

The canine snarled at her and she took a careful, calucated step back, appraising the blind creature. What came next she had hardly expected, having never been truly attacked before in her life.

A sharp, hissing snap shouted at the feline, making her jump nearly twice her height in the air-- and after that, she scampered away, up a tree as quickly as she could. Her claws sunk deep into the bark, curled fur puffed up on end as best as it could.

The air rang, and for a moment, she could hear nothing-- she could only see, smell, and feel. The feline, truthfully, found herself shaking. Her stomach twisted, but a smile crept on to her features. Her pale eyes were locked on the dog as she breathed words that she could barely hear echoing through her jaws.

"What was that?"

The cat stared at the dog as he stumbled about, shouting at... the ground?-- and even that she could barely hear over the awful ring in her ears. She managed to make out his words, however, and she made a dangerous assumption about the boy.

"Wait!"

The cat yowled, scrambling across her branch until he was bellow her-- though the twig barely supported her weight, she clung to it, afraid to fall but more afraid to miss out on something important.

words:....... nyah
tagged:....... @Basil
ooc:........... listen
muse:........ 10/10 tbh

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

Through the ringing, he could hear that same female voice, and it was - above him?? He snapped his head around, but the sound was too short to follow and pinpoint. He remembered that Fallah kept climbing trees just to pounce on him and aggravate him, before he had his safety blindfold, and he had seen her on accident.

That wouldn't happen again. This other gem that he couldn't see, this ghost that moved into ridiculous places to speak at him, he would either run or make them go away. He had enough demons to deal with.

"I will not wait," He growled, a low and torn sound, and he coughed and hacked, as if his throat had cobwebs in it. It almost hurt to speak. "Devil up above me, you will leave me be or I shall---" Again, he coughed, and it hurt. "I shall erase your auditory uses permanently, rather than temporarily."

@Dovefeather

DOVEFEATHER

i'll be your guide so you can see the other side
then I will never let you get away never let you get away

The feline's ears perked as the dog spoke more, as the ringing started to fade. Despite this, she tried to rely on her eyes, trying to see his words escape his mouth instead of hear them. She wanted to See, and his threats seemed more like sweet promises to her.

A fear shook her heart, and she ignored it in favor of this sickeningly sweet idea. Perhaps Giggle was right. Perhaps Dovefeather didn't care.

"What has happened to you? What has the All Mother done?"

She would never presume that the All Mother-- who she worshiped-- would hurt someone intentionally. Yet something on this canine's path had brought him to a place of fear and hatred, and she was so hungry to discover it, to unearth the secrets that lay in the darkness of the dog's heart.

"You blind yourself,"

She rose her voice, confidence streaming from her trembling, frightened form. She was scared and excited, a bystander witnessing a murder and unable to look away.

"There are things which you don't want to see. She has Shown you something. What is it?"

"... And, will you? Will you truly deafen me? Listen-- I wish to See, Devil-Caller, and I wonder how much closer to the Truth I will be if I am hampered as you are with your eyes. Perhaps I could blind you permanently, if you are so afraid of the Truth She has let you See."

"I will not come closer, if you're afraid of that-- but do not run, Devil-Caller, I know these paths better than you deaf and blind or not."

She felt herself slipping. With a hiss, the branch she was on snapped from under her claws and she was falling through the air.

"Watch out!"

She cried, her whole tough-cat persona falling rather flat as she plummeted down towards the underbrush, tail lashing as she tried to upright herself to land on her paws before she hit the earth.

words:....... nyah
tagged:....... @Basil
ooc:........... listen
muse:........ 10/10 tbh

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

He sneered at nothing. 'What has happened to you?' The woman asked, like it was something that could be solved, something that could be fixed. He'd never heard of the All Mother, but if it was possible he had someone or something to blame for this curse, he would go to this all Mother and rip her apart, if only for this to end.

"You blind yourself. There is something which you don't want to see." She said.

He just laughed, a cruel, hacking sound, mirthless and miserable. "Yes! There is a monster in me, a demon that arises whenever I spy a-" He skipped over the word lady, since that only led down a horrible path, "A woman."

He took in a shuddering breath, and even the air felt painful to his throat. "I can't control the poison that drips out of my mouth when I see one of you devils, you temptresses that steal my mind away from me. I want nothing to do wi-"

The ghost-like devil continued to speak up above him, and he was speechless for a moment. "You...want to trade your hearing for my eyes? Why? It is nothing but a burden to lose something so vital - "

He heard a branch crack, and his fur bristled instantly, and without thinking, something spurred him to race towards the sound of her crying out as she fell. But without his sight, his speed only caused him to trip over a divet in the ground, and his chin skidded across the dirt and grass.

@Dovefeather

DOVEFEATHER

i'll be your guide so you can see the other side
then I will never let you get away never let you get away

Dovefeather, thankfully, fell paws first into a fern, which did little to stop her fall but did soften it considerably. She stumbled to the ground, half of a thin branch flying and clattering off to her side.

The dog had tried to save her. She struggled to stand, pain shooting through a leg, but it still moved if she demanded it to. It... Probably wasn't broken. The agony of the wound seemed to sharpen her ability to focus, however, as she poured through his words and limped over to make sure he was alright.

"Owch-- hey, are you alright?"

There was a monster inside of him that made him hurt females? It was absurd, but if he had managed to tame it by just... Not looking at them, it couldn't be that bad. After all, just because you couldn't see something didn't make it just disappear. Surely the demon that hunted devil-ladies could understand that much.

Perhaps the canine was just being silly, a thought that came to her mind as though an adscript written down in the margins.

"Is not losing your vision also a burden...?"

She mewled softly, careful not to step in range of those sharp teeth of his-- just in case.

"By sacrificing something important, you think you can better yourself, correct? Become strong enough to beat the demon in your heart? I want to do something similar. I See you are a creature of great devotion and courage... Willing to do whatever it takes to become better. It is a great virtue."

"My name is Dovefeather, by the way. I am a daughter and Seer of the All Mother. I know you are fearful of your demon, but if it becomes a problem I can just leave... So, um. Could I have your name?"

And quietly, the fear began to disappear in the kitten, a gentle humming rising from her curled fur. A sweet, soft purr of comfort and calmness.

words:....... nyah
tagged:....... @Basil
ooc:........... listen
muse:........ 10/10 tbh

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...

His curse flared in him, hearing her land and hurt herself, and he was unable to help her - he had the insane urge to rip off his blindfold to help her, and he shuddered with complete revulsion - the curse was finding a way to influence him even with his vision taken away, whispering its influence as if they were his own desires and wants.

But that was how he became a blithering idiot, and he couldn't have that, so he rose from the ground and shook off the dirt. He listened to her, and kept his stupid tendencies to himself. "I'm fine. And if I must choose my burdens," He rasped. "I would rather be blind than be a monster."

He heard her step towards him softly, and the muscles in his shoulders tensed, ready to run. But at her words, he scoffed and sneered.

"I do not seek to become better," He snarled, "I seek to survive. When I see a woman, I am no better than her puppet, and her will overrides my own, and I am on my knees begging for her attentions. I have no mind of my own, and no control over my body. Do you know how that feels? To see yourself acting in such a way that you hate vehemently and with a passion? A creature possessed? I have no other way to live but blind and alone."

The last words of that little speech were by far the bitterest words he'd ever uttered, so bitter they stained his tongue. He grimaced at the taste of them as they left his mouth. But he softened a little as she continued.

"I...appreciate that, Dovefeather." He said softly. "My name is Basil. Feel free to scream it at me if I start losing my mind."

@Dovefeather

DOVEFEATHER

i'll be your guide so you can see the other side
then I will never let you get away never let you get away

There was a sharp, cold sensation of guilt that washed over the curly furred cat as the canine snapped at her once more, though she knew he was more angry at his condition than anything she had ever done to him. In fact, she had done nothing to him in particular worth being guilty of. Regardless, coy thoughts had crept into her mind, and his words were like a newspaper to her nose.

"... No, I have no idea what that's like."

The cat replied gently, staring at him with her pale, unblinking gaze. He had for a moment brought her closer to the All Mother, and she couldn't shake it from her thoughts. It was so tempting to take advantage of him, knowing his weakness, but she kept back. She was better than that, surely?

The gembound introduced himself as Basil and she dipped her head (a silly gesture since he was blind) to him in reply. Her purring grew louder as she looked at her paws, realizing she was shaking and not knowing if it was from the vibration in her chest or from something else.

"Sure, Basil. Worse comes to worse, I'll blind you-- uh, temporarily, in case there's a way to tame the sickness in you."

Her tail swished behind her, trying to come up with words to say to him. There was a lot she wanted to say, lots she wanted to talk about, but she was concerned about pushing too far or digging to deep.

"Until then, why don't you tell me about the real Basil? It must do you some good to have some company, as long as you can stand me."

words:....... nyah
tagged:....... @Basil
ooc:........... listen
muse:........ 10/10 tbh

"Talking looks like this."
Thinking looks like this...