ROLEPLAY HQ - of-greed-and-need

Magic circles really were not Fyreth's method of operation, but this particular spell required precision and planning that simply could not be done with the wave of a hand or the speaking of a word. The meager resistance was in need of assistance and the head mage had assured him that this was the spell that would change the tide of the war. It would bring forth a hero who would end the fighting and restore peace to the land... or so the prattle went. Unfortunately for Fyreth, he seemed to be the most magical being there, so the task fell to him. Part of him admired the head mage for passing off such a huge responsibility to someone; that kind of humility was rare. Yet, at the same time, he knew how dangerous this was and couldn't help think that it was a small dose of cowardice on the woman's part. He looked down at the circle he had drawn and then back to the sketch. He has been careful to be as precise as possible. His usual method of brute force needed to give way to a scalpel approach which took a modicum of restraint. The white-haired man set the materials around the circle, one in each quadrant with a diamond in the middle. The hope was that this spell would summon a great warrior across time and maybe even space to come aid them. It was... an oddly specific spell. Even more, it was written in a celestial tongue that not even be could decipher. Every aspect of this spell was foreign to him; otherworldly, even. Yet he had done his utmost to prepare, even going so far as to learn the correct pronunciation of the words that he could not translate. Stepping back, he took in a deep breath; he wasn't hopeful. At best, maybe it would summon some sort of angel. At worst? Well, hopefully nothing went particularly wrong. He prayed to Tiamat, a rarity for him, but he did not want to lose another eye in this process should his magic go out of control. He took in a deep breath and let it out before beginning his chant in a low, quiet drone. The air started spark

4:02 PM

@🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

The 'pod' had been sitting in the cross roads between time and space for so long that it would seem forgotten by even the gods who had put it there. The great treasure that had come to the worlds in mortal form and done what needed to be done in those times. Wars, peace times, times of famine and feast. But for a long while, no matter the time, space, or dimension, it was unneeded. Others took up the mantles more and more and thus the way of the gods was not needed for a long time. Intervening becoming less of a priority. That was until a spell, an old spell that had come across many worlds was spoken. Was executed by someone who, while not the head mage of any circles, had passion for what his mission was. A great passion. A passion that drove the gods to hear the call and cant their heads. Did he really want this? It would seem so with the way he executed it all. And as though joining minds the 'pod' that had so long since been forgotten was finally brought forth from the heavens again and thrust down to the world below and the call of him who heeded it. An eruption happened in the middle of the assembly. A bright, great beam of light shown down to the crystal and made it transcend in a thousand directions and colors around him. Neon and pastel colors encasing the area before it all seeped inward. A moment passed of silence. Another moment. Then the entire diamond erupted into a thousand shards to reveal a petite femme. Her cat-like ears on the top of wavey black hair. They twitched and pinned to her head. She looked around a moment, the only 'attire' she had was a pair of glasses that pearched on her tanned and freckled nose. Bright blue eyes stared down at her nude form and a bright red blush overtook her as she started to try and cover herself with her hands and now puffed-out tail that appeared from behind her to encase her lap. Coin sized, almond-shaped eyes finally found his through the reddened features of embarrassment and she adjusted

6:02 PM

her glasses, sitting there, trying to conceal herself on the ground. The first words of this grand hero were epic indeed, her lips forming a sigh as she simply said, "Are you going to eat me?"

6:02 PM

@PhoggyΨυχη

Nudity did not bother Fyreth. His people, for the most part, were nude. Clothes were the invention of more self-conscious races. The draconic body was one to behold in all its splendor. Still, he had to abide by the societal norms, and, thus, he wrapped his body in the appropriate fabrics, at least while humanoid. As far as he was aware, they did not make underwear or pants for full dragons. So when he saw the nude catgirl, he did not bat an eye. He was not too sure about how the spell even worked? Were clothes even things that could be summoned? It was not his spell, so he was not sure of the intricacies of it. Regardless, he was not expecting a catgirl of all species. They did not exactly have those here and, in his understanding, they were mostly the result of otherworldly animations. Still, he supposed that in the multiverse, there had to be at least one universe with real catgirls. Perhaps these were not the thoughts he should be having at the moment- the viability and validity of a catgirl universe. While, first, he was a dragon, he had also spent several years on another world where this kind of thing was imagined in great detail through many mediums. He even had to laugh about how the idea of "summoning someone to another world" was quite the old trope. Yet, this was what they needed. The spell had been created with the express purpose of drawing in a powerful being or entity that could turn the tides of the war. Fyreth was strong, but he was far from diplomatic or precise. He preferred a more 'scorched earth' policy. Of course, that would only resort in more bloodshed, so they needed someone who could help with the mission of ending this war. Prideful as he was, he was not above asking for help. While tactics were indeed needed, the humans did have their hands on some rather particular weapons and magics that made even the avatar of Tiamat stumble in his assuredness. "Don't plan on eating you. You'd be a very expensive meal if that was the case, wha

6:15 PM

t with all of the trouble I went through of summoning you," he groaned and dug into his bag. He had packed a few things for the trip back, not knowing who or what he would summon. 'Cold' was not something he really experienced, but he had packed a blanket for the potential summonee. He tossed it over to her: "if you need to cover up, here. Don't worry about it, though. Not really interested in whatever it is you have going on." He paused. Formalities. Right. "I'm Fyreth, Sorcorer and Avatar of Tiamat. You?" @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

The femme caught the flying blanket while Fyreth went on. She had already started to wrap herself with it in a kind of toga of sorts, tying it behind her neck while she contemplated this new world she was in. Unfortunately, her very nature didn't allow her to remember the specifics of where she'd been, when, how she got there, but small memories remained to remind her that she had done this far too much. A sigh echoed out of her lips and she smoothed out her tail while ears pinned to her head in a mild annoyance for a moment before relaxing. Her form was gentle, her nature seemed to give off a calming presence just to be around and she pulled her long hair behind her head, after ripping an end of the blanket, and using it to tie her hair. Her ears twitched and she finally spoke. "An expensive meal? Well I have always been told I'm high maintenance." She laughed a little, the sound like a bell. Her voice was gentle and caressing, much like her aura. Slowly she stood up and for a moment couldn't find her footing. But she managed as she adjusted herself with all the air of woman with grace and dignity. Soft steps crossed the pathing between them and she held out her hand for a proper introduction "And I'm Doctor Dacina Nacht, and I'm getting very tired of this," She shook her head with a perpetual smile on her face, ruby and gentle as she watched the sorcerer before her. "Oh you poor dear," Her brows knitting in a soft sudden understanding "You've been through so much already haven't you? And now you're here with a summoned being and out ... too much for... A tome? A crystal? Was it an apple this time?" She didn't seem to be joking but her demeanor was kind and soothing. "I suppose we haven't much time. You seem harried," she adjusted her glasses and looked him up and down a moment with her hand still held in offering "It'll okay, sweetie," She promised gently. "It always is. That's the beauty of ends. They're always happy. Or else it isn't the end

7:11 AM

yet."

7:11 AM

@PhoggyΨυχη

A doctor catgirl? And she had one of those sly attitudes. Great. He listened to her appraise the situation. He wasn't too appreciative of pity, but he knew well enough when to let something go. The last thing he needed was to kick up a fight out here where they could be caught unawares. With a sigh, he shook her hand, "doctor, huh?" His shining blue eye did not portray much in the way of emotion. While his right eye was covered with an eyepatch, his left eye seemed trained on the summonee before him. "Might be best for us to get going." He was trying to be less abrasive with her. Though, he was not one for riddles or poetic musings. "Happy endings. Sure. We'll see. Anyways," he turned around and looked back out across the vast field between them and the forest. Where they were had been ideal for summoning, given the openness and mana flow, but it was hardly a strategic vantage point. As it was, they were sitting ducks. "We need to get going. I used up a lot of magic to get you here and I don't particularly want to tap into my reserves if I don't need to. We've got a few days' journey back to camp, so I can fill you in or anwser any questions you have about the world you've been brought to." He paused and looked back over his shoulder, "guess this isn't your first rodeo, either." Though, he wasn't particularly sure where she had come from or how a doctor catgirl could help them, it was what they had. The people at the camp would definitely find her fascinating. Alluring even. She had a sort of ethereal air about her, as if everything she did was encompassed in a sense of graceful mystique. Fyreth didn't have time to let himself go down that rabbit hole just yet; they needed to find a safe place to camp for the night. She seemed capable enough. He had been expecting someone a lot less than he got, but his senses told him that she was relatively strong, to a certain extent. "Come on," he huffed out. Not out of anger or frustration, but rather out of his general

8:53 AM

demeanor. He was a tired dragon. Haggard. Restless. This was just another stop on his journey through eternity and immortality. It would never end and he would never rest- at least not for very long. "Let's make for the forest. Carefully. The light show I just used to get you here might have tipped off some rather unfavorable parties to my- our location." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She took his hand in hers to shake it and the oddest things would happen. A soft ripple from her skin seemed to emit from her palm and skin contact. It was overly warm, like a welcoming nap. Calming like a silence needed after a busy day at the market. It was ... soothing, just her touch. But it only lasted a moment as she slipped her petite hand away from his and smiled warmly with a cant of her head and raise of her brow as though sensing the agitation from him. The neko just nodded to him and picked up the dragging edges of the toga-like garment she'd made. Her statue was no more then five feet if you didn't include her long cat eats that perked with fluff at the top of her head as she followed and listened to him. She shrugged at his comment about rodeos and sighed, looking around as they traveled "I've been through many things, dear. I can't fully remember them but the knowledge of what was learned remains. And I've learned that my presence is only summoned when needed. Greatly. For why? I don't know. I simply hope it's not to be burned at a stake for a cause this time." She said it very casually. For someone who seemed to remember being burned alive. She had no trouble keeping up. Though at first her steps seemed hard to take, getting used to a form again in the waking world. She never asked for help, lost her smile, or cried out when she stumbled as they made their way to the forest he had indicated. "Camping sounds nice. I suppose you have some rations? If you can catch us a rabbit I can make a very nice stew." She offered in her bell-like voice to him. The oddity was, that even though she seemed to stumble, trip at times, and have overall trouble at first managing her way, she still kept reaching out to move branches for him, push aside a rock or point out a root he might trip on. Her every air was of care and what might be needed. "You're tired," She decided after some time of them traveling "Restless," she read clearly and adjusted her glass

7:16 AM

es. She paused as they were deeper in the woods now and looked about "I think we might find a good canopy to the ... west" She guessed "Yes," adjusting her glasses and slightly disarrayed toga while her tail swished behind her "Lets find a spot, I'll make dinner and you can fill me in?" She suggested. She was mildly panting from the trek, but smiling all the same and giving him a look as though she would very much do what he needed her to. Though all her skills to this point seemed to indicate she was a domestic sort. There was nothing about her that screamed 'warrior'. And compared to Fyreth, she would seem like nothing more than a snack. He was strong looking, relentless, and the lost eye showed he'd dealt with much and came out the other end. She admired that and wondered to herself if she had come here just to make him the champion his people needed. @PhoggyΨυχη

Perhaps he was too rough-skinned or perhaps he was desensitized to the cool gentleness. Either way, his focus shifted away from her form and to the matter at hand. She spoke as someone who had been through this before, probably more than once. He supposed that time would only yell if that would be a boon or a bust. He knew her type all too well, though. Rhexia. Selfless. Caring. Willing to sacrifice herself for others... to a dangerous extent. Through her struggling to walk and her adjusting to the new world she found herself in, he noticed her constant purposeful movements. She was trying not to be a burden. She was trying to help him. She wouldn't last long here like that. Not because selfless people did not succeed in this world. But... Selfless people tended to die around him. "I'm always tired. That's what being immortal does to you, doc," Fyreth replied flatly. He kept his gaze forward and his eye on alert. The last thing he needed was to be caught off-guard right now. He noticed her panting and her struggling and, with a sigh of exasperation, he grabbd her arm and tossed her onto his back. "Not gonna make you tire yourself out before we get to camp. Besides, you're only going to get slower." He let her arms rest around his broad shoulders and moved in the direction she had spotted. He clawed through the trees and underbrush with relative ease, his bulky nature making the tasks relatively easy. With her pressed against him, he could sense the magical and otherworldly energy that she possessed. It was flickering at the moment; whether it was due to her disposition in time and space or something else, he was unsure. But he was not about to let her burn herself out. "I can handle myself, doc. You get your rest. You're leaking out a nasty amount of magic. Not sure why. The summoning took magic from me and should have given it to you to help you establish your form here," he huffed as he made it through the forest and to the aforementioned canopy. "Don't

1:41 PM

need my familiar vanishing on me." Was... that a joke? The flat demeanor and cadence did not lend any help to deciphering his intention. Regardless, he sat her down and cast a spell around them. It was imperceptable, but it would keep them safe. "No one will bother us for now. As for food, I have some dried meats and flasks of water. If you'd prefer fresh food, I'm sure I can figure something out. Not really sure how your, uh, species gains or maintains energy." At least she's not a stereotypical catgirl. There's no way I could deal with the constant 'nyas~'. Not that he knew what an actual neko was like; she was definitely a first for him. @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

The nekomata was managing as best she could, given being in this body less than a few hours. She let out a small squeal and huff as she was suddenly hoisted up and thrown over his shoulder. She let out a sigh and pushed loose hair out of her face. "Oh please do tell me about the torments of immortality, I haven't a clue myself." She snickered a bit, clearly teasing him despite his edgy demeanor. She wasn't dissuaded by it. Or at least the cheery way she carried herself didn't. Even as she was carried. "I'm just getting a grip of how to move in this world." She said as she caught her breath and continued on "That doesn't mean anything then an adjustment of my new system to a new world." She adjusted her glasses and looked about as they made their way over. Or rather he did with her in his arms. "It's not magic." She informed him gently "It's a natural aura people have told me I let off. I often use it when needed but only when absolutely so." She adjusted her glasses and his joke made her giggle with a cover of her lips "Familiar? Oh now thats something I don't think I've been yet. You're not leashing me." She smirked at him as she was set down. When he started to create a spell she canted her head to watch with a little bit of awe and adoration for his craft. She pulled her knees up against her chest and let her mind wander while her fingers twined through a long lock of hair. Her ears twitched and she looked back to him "I suppose by eating food. You do have food here right? Meats, veggies, fruits, herbs, cheeses?" She blinked up at him a little and laughed "So I suppose that would be how. I eat. Like any person would. I'm not anything special. I assure you. I'm not magical, mystical, or mysterious." She adjusted her glasses again and scrunched her nose a little. "I offered to catch and cook something fresh, if you prefer dried meat over that, thats up to you." She shrugged with her arms still around her knees and rocking a little back and forth.

2:28 PM

"We could use a fire but I'm guessing by how skittish you seem that you'll be afraid it'll attract something." She reasoned with a sigh and shook her head. "So! While you eat your dried meat made with no love, why don't you tell me whats going on here? I'm never brought to a world thats thriving on peace, just killed in them." She laughed a little and covered her lips at her own dark joke. @PhoggyΨυχη

"You don't have to do that, by the way," he said with a nonchalance as he set up some twigs. He cast a small spell and set them ablaze. No one would see the smoke thanks to his spell. "You don't have to pretend to be happy or strong. It's not impressive or anything like that. You don't need to impress me with your strength." He took out some of his dried meats and handed her some. "Not a lot of time to make stuff with love anymore." He sat down on the ground across from her. "Long story short: humans are trying to kill all magical creatures and steal their energy for who the hell knows." He bit into the hard tack and tore off a piece; he ate like someone without manners, though perhaps he did not care anymore. "The hope was that we could get someone with a power that they don't have or that we don't have in order to turn the tides of the war. Trust me, if we didn't need to summon an extraplanar being, we wouldn't have... no offense," he took another bite before digging into his bag and tossing her a a flask of water. "If we plan on sleeping here tonight, I can set up a tent. Judging by your struggles to stand- sorry, your 'adjustment of your system to a new world'- we'll need to stay here tonight." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

The femme watched him with curious perked ears as he talked. The man was jaded, she could tell that much and it made her heart hurt. She took the meat offered and ate without much manners herself. Talking through chews of the dried rations. "Thank you, and I'm not pretending. You have to understand my role in this Universe, these dimensions is to live and die by their morals." She sighed and pulled her legs into a cross legged position "I understand that you're dealing with a great many things but you must understand that nothing is black and white. I'm not what you think I am, and that spell was no more then a curse put upon me by a vengeful wraith that still dwells somewhere in these planes." She sighed deeply. Shaking her head and rolling her shoulder. "Anyway, I suppose it's more solid here. But do you know why they're doing this? There's often whys, you find out whys you find out the hows, you stop the hows and the war stops. It's easy, really." She bit into her jerky again and ate like a woman deprived of many days of food. And she was. She was utterly hungry. And it seemed his sour mood only made her more so. "I can catch something if you like but it would mean wandering out of your circle and then I'd be an expensive disposal, hmmm?" She grinned at him as she bit another hunk out of her meat slice and her perpetual grin stayed "I'm not going to turn into some majestic being, and you don't need to acomidate me. In fact, the way of my nature is completely that of the opposite. I'm here to serve you" she informed matter of factly. "Burn me, torture me, sacrifice me to a volcano. It's nothing I haven't experienced" she said with a soft side as she continued to eat and pulled her knees up to her chest. She clearly didn't think he had any good plans for her but she was certainly not protesting in anyway. It was how it was to her. @PhoggyΨυχη

She didn't make much sense, but he supposed that she had her owned learned experiences to base her words off of. Fyreth wasn't here to judge; he was here to summon and escort. "Of course I know why they're doing this. I'm the one who caused this whole thing." He said, stoking the flames with an unblinking and unconcerned eye. "Well, that's not entirely true. I did not set these events into motion, but I greased the tracks, so to speak. It's not simply a matter of talking them through this. Humans want power. That's how this started. I gave them a reason to fear our power. Now they want us gone." He dug into his pouch and pulled out another flask, this one of wine. He took a sip, letting the red liquid fall down his jaw. "I'm not anyone's master or slave-driver. My goal was to get you here and then you help us with this somehow. And I don't intend on assisting with your masochism." He pulled out long sticks and fabrics from the impossibly small bag. The dragon rose up and began to set up the tents around them. "And you don't want to eat what lives in this forest, doc. Trust me." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She watched him with steady eyes through her lenses, eating her jerky without much of a complaint. Her only concern seemed to be him getting a meal that wasn't dried and salted. But he said something about the creatures of the woods and she took that as an indicator and spoke up "Tainted? Have they been tainted?" She looked around the woods and realized just why he'd put up a circle. The nekomata could only sigh as she felt the jadedness pour off him in waves that nearly made her wince "Humans do that alot. I've found. But you can reason with anyone if you have the right tools. What did they tell you I would or could do, exactly?" She inquired as she ate and watched him with purpose. "I know Im here for a reason. Maybe to die for the right cause or live for a better one. But it's probably to keep you alive. So tell me why the woods are broken, why the world is tainted, and I can tell you where we can start." She relented to him as she adjusted herself into a half crescent sitting position and finished her meal. Dabbing at her lips politely with the edges of her 'toga'. @PhoggyΨυχη

"Tainted? No. Poisonous, yes. Aside from the leylines, this place is dangerous. Only fools would follow after me. Of course, I've known some foolish humans in my time and even more foolish creatures. The monsters would usually avoid me, but you, on the other hand, are a new scent to them entirely." He finished settling the tents with ease before sitting back down across from her. "No idea. Not my spell. I'm just the only one dumb enough and strong enough to pull it off. I have no idea what they were expecting to come through the summons." She seemed to have some preconceptions already, it seemed. This world wasn't as fantastical as she seemed to believe. It was harsh and destroyed and broken, but it had nothing to do with some otherworldly taint. "They can't kill me," he flicked his tongue and shot a blue spark out, lighting the flames of the fire all the more. "I can't be killed. When I say I'm immortal, I don't just mean I can live forever. I mean that I can't die. It's not exactly something as special as people make it out to be, but I sold my soul and now I need to live with the consequences." A light under his eye patch shone for a moment before dying down again. "And she won't let me die," he grunted. "Not worth talking about, though. Point is, I don't need help surviving. This world does. I'm not a savior; that's your job. The world isn't tainted or anything like that; it's just good old fashioned greed. Human experimentation and 'progress' broke the forest. Poisoned the water. The animals learned to adapt. To evolve. They're just as sick as the water here. That's the way it is now." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She adjusted her glasses on the perch of her nose as she listened to him and watched him pitch the tents. Her brows raising slightly at his words "You think poisoning and tainting aren't the same? Don't be foolish. Fantastical, grounded, set in the stars or hell, it all rings true; Greed takes all in the end, if we let it." She sighed and leaned back a little as she considered him and his rather direct nature. "Immortality is a harsh sentence. Forever doomed to watch the world die around you while you can't. It's a harsh thing, truly. You shouldn't feel like you have to bury it." She said so in a casual tone as she went about readying herself for what was to be a camp night's stay in a forest that he had deemed wanted her dead. "For what it's worth if I die, it's probably for a good reason. I never know." She looked into the fire for a long while, looking tired, but her smile seemed to remain no matter the subject. "A wild bear, tainted by the humans of this world, could be the catalyst between a war ending. My death at its paws could be what makes it all better. I never really know." She shrugged at him and turned her attention to him again. "So the humans tainted this world with their greed? I suspect pollution and mass consumption?" she asked with a small cant of her head and perk of her cat ears toward him like satellite dishes. "What are we fighting exactly?" never once did her speech falter, alter, or otherwise change from it's calm and casual way. Though she couldn't remember much, and that was certain, she seemed to keep the deep scars of her past lives inside her enough to imagine what worlds could be, would be, and became without intervention. Why she was that intervention seemed to vary. And even in this summoning, she seemed prepared to die for what was needed. As though it was something as easy as making yourself a cup of tea. @PhoggyΨυχη

"You'll find that those two words have very different meanings here, doc. Were the world being tainted, it would mean the hells were at play. Were it only that simple, then I could put an end to it." His tail flicked behind him. The gods would intervene in a fight with the hells, but fights among mortals were different. "Thanks for the sunny words of encouragement there. I've lived plenty of life to know that I'm in a hell of my own making." Fyreth paused for a moment, his stone façade cracking for a small moment. He ran his claws along the glowing marks on his arm. "Just because I've made peace with my fate doesn't mean I have to like it. Seems like you want to die. Hell, maybe you do." His gruff exterior resurfaced as he let out a small snort of distaste. "I don't have patience for people who yearn to die. You've got a life; live it. Besides, you were expensive; I don't need you running towards death until I can at least recoup my costs." His eye narrowed towards her follow-up questions. "What are we fighting indeed." Fyreth set the flask down and leaned back, letting his claws dig into the ground behind him. "You can't fight an idea like greed or consumption— those will always exist. We're not fighting some grand evil. There's no devil pulling the strings behind this; no fiend or evil wizard secretly pitting us against each other. We're fighting the product of greed and lust for power. Jealousy. Anger. Hatred. When that's taken root, fighting back is all you can do. I would go so far as to say that there are devils with more of a heart than these humans." He reached into his never-ending bag and pulled out a map, tossing it to her. "But if you want a big bad, the leader of this unholy crusade is the Holy Kingdom of Arraya. King's name is some third or fourth Bertrand. Not important. He's a figurehead. The place is a militaristic kingdom ruled by their war room. A bunch of old vets from some past wars. Definitely have a grudge against us mythicals. I'v

8:41 PM

e had my own ideas about how to get this done, but I've been told it's unrealistic. So they went with the far more realistic plan of summoning." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She never let her eyes leave him as he spoke, and some part of her ache for him, truly. His words made her ears pin to her head as the realities of the world she'd been brought to were brought to her attention. Though some of what he said earned him an ire-like stare with narrow eyes and a puffed tail. She restored quickly enough, and though her voice was gentle and bell-like, it was firm in its conviction, adjusting her glasses in that habitual way as she did, "I don't yearn to die, I merely accept whatever fate comes upon me." She ground her slightly pointed teeth together and found her patience with him wearing somewhat thin. She stood up to her full, put small height and stared down at him "Tell me more about the aches of being an immortal and I'll retort with stories of being a yo-yo for the Universe's will. You don't get it do you?" She shook her head in annoyance now and threw her hands in the air. "You keep talking about cost and how this or that needs to be fought and you don't know how except to summon me of all things. Did you even read the spell? The nature of my being anywhere has entirely to do with what is needed there. For all you know, you summoned me to marry one of these humans and bring peace through the slavery of my body!" She was riled up now. His self-pity and negativity getting to her. "It's not fun for me to be ripped from place to place, and you could do a little to calm down and be a little gentle for a change, because this edgy, I've been living in a tower studying magic like a cryptid vibe" She gestured toward all of him "It's not cute," She ended with a small smirk and glare at him. The map was thrown and like the blanket she caught it with focus to look it over "Hmm maybe this is who you sell me to, to get your precious treasure back and restore the land of Nod to peace by showing a creature of myth can love" She rolled her eyes deeply and looked it over, pushing hair out of her face. Fyreth wasn't so unpleasa

8:57 PM

nt, really, but Darcina had been through a lot in her many reincarnations and his attitude wasn't what she wanted welcoming her. More to the point her purpose in this land was still unknown and though her words were cutting, they were no less true. He could have summoned her here to be nothing more than a pet to a human in order to bring balance. Or something worse. She sighed "I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I felt the burden of thinking," She calmed a little and held up her hand "I'll do what's needed, whatever that be. But please," She gave him a semi-gentle look "Don't refer to my presence as a burden or some fatalistic thing I treasure. I merely exist to serve. Whatever that be." She dropped her eyes with a sort of sadness that only one never allowed to live a life of their own could have. @PhoggyΨυχη

"I'm not to have a competition of 'who had it worse' with you. I honestly don't care," he huffed out once more. Luckily or unluckily, he had little in the way of patience, so he could not lose it. No, it was more that he just did not care. "Listen, doc, I have my idea of getting this done, but it ain't up to me. I don't operate as some lone wolf trying to take on the world; I do what needs to be done by the people who ask in order to protect those who need protecting. To say that this was my first instinct would be foolhardy at best. But the other option is actually uniting the fae, fiends, and beyond as a united force. You'd have a better chance of that dirt becoming gold than you would of that happening. So, they wanted you. Whatever it is you are." Either she had little in the way of common sense, or she was making a poor excuse for a joke. She had no power to speak of politically, so marriage was not even on the table. "And I'm not trying to be cute. I don't need to be cute. I'm not trying to impress or court anyone." His finger twitched as he almost raised his hand to his arm again as if instinct when recalling a memory. "I can promise you that marriage or slavery or whatever the hells you're talking about won't solve this issue. For all their faults, those militaristic assholes abhor slavery." She seemed to have a relatively high view of herself, whether by ego or experience, like she was this mystic key to a lock that they needed to open. He had major doubts in that regard. This problem went far deeper than what one individual could solve. Summoning some random outsider or extraplanar deity wouldn't do them any good. He waited for a moment and noted her uncharacteristic sadness. "Nah, I don't buy it." His tail flicked up some dust behind him as he spat on the fire again. "The universe isn't as cosmically mysterious or as powerful as you say it is. We make our own fate. You're not just some cosmic chess piece. None of us are. I chose to be what I

9:15 PM

am and I'm aware of that. I wasn't forced into it and I'm not going to let anyone tell me what I can or can't do or be. Dynasties come and go. Stars die out. No one's pulling the strings—" the light under his eye flickered once more and he gave a small wince— "no matter what the 'gods' would have you believe. So stop with this 'I'll be what I need to be' bullshit. Whatever we need is what you are right now, not some great cosmic mystery box to be unraveled at a given date." He stood up and dusted his pants off, "you should get some sleep. I'll take the watch tonight." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She couldn't help but watch him with a note of amusement in her perpetual smile. She let him be cold, callous even, as he went on. It was his world, she'd just been summoned to it. She nodded a bit as he spoke of how it was unlikely marriage or slavery would do it and she smiled a little warmer "Oh good" she said in her soft voice "I was really worried I'd have to marry some disgusting being this time around." She seemed genuinely thankful for this one. The truth was that he could see and assume whatever he wanted about her. But she was simply her. A being that was ripped from place to place to add some catalyst or moment when it would balance things in whatever world she was in. He couldn't understand, probably wouldn't understand just how many times she'd heard this story before. The greed of man overcoming the good of the mystical. To think it hadn't happened before would be foolish. She sighed "You know, I get that you don't like me or that I'm here. I get that you don't want to make friends and you're so damned jaded that a fresh meal seems like a threat to you," She relented rather dully and rolled her eyes "But what I don't get, is if you think that we control our own fates and lives, that we make it ourselves... Well I don't recall being asked to be here, was I?" She was very calm in how she spoke. Almost a serene calm as she went on "So maybe your life has the luxury of choice. A choice to summon a being that you made by other's wishes." She let that hang for a moment as she curls her knees to her chest. "You see, if you look at it, I didn't have a choice and whatever my role here is, I don't have a choice in that either. So you're right to be cold." She added with her head tilting and laying on her knees as she sighed softly "It's best to not form an attachment. You could be the thing that kills me at the end of all this. So steel yourself all you need, sweetie, you'll need that strength" She gave him a small nod of approval and gentle smil

3:53 AM

e. "As for sleeping... I don't sleep. It's a symptom of what I am, I suppose. Truth is, a very long time ago, I did something very stupid for what I thought were good reasons... Now I pay the price of altruism no matter where I go. I guess part of that is never feeling tired. You rest though, I'm sure the trek here and summoning me was an entire adventure for you." She laughed a little "Expensive in most senses, hmmm? So rest. I'll wake you if anything approaches." She assured. Darcina wasn't some magical, mythical warrior. She was a Doctor, of the mind, body, and spirit. She just happened to be chosen for deeds that most mortals would shirk from. But not her. Each time she met her fate with a smile and an understanding that however her time ended in a world, she would leave it better. He could see it as being high on herself, or even pretentious of her. But what he saw and what she was were two different things. And his words about the gods not commanding anything were instantly cut off by her reminder that no, no she hadn't been given a choice. He had them. She didn't. The sooner he understood that, the easier it would be. @PhoggyΨυχη

"I think you misunderstand me. I'm not saying that you're in control of your circumstances, but rather that you choose what you do in those circumstances. No one's got this whole thing planned out. You don't have some roadmap to figure here. We're all winging it." He wasn't one for fatalistic points of view. She seemed to think that everything was figured out and planned and destined. He hated that mindset. "I didn't choose the circumstances that brought me to this point; I just chose what to do while I was here. I can choose my actions, not my circumstances. You say you don't have a choice in whatever your role is: why not? Who's the boss that gets to tell you what your life is worth?" He did not have a conflict with her, aside from the ideological one. But he would not leave their... fates in her hands while he slept. He had no gauge of ability, so he was not about to let her sit up and guard them. "Thanks, but no thanks. I do not know what you are or are not capable of. I doubt you're hostile, but I also don't think you could defend us if it came down to it. Just because I'm immortal doesn't mean that I can't get injured." I rolled his shoulders. "So if you're so insistent on staying up, then why don't you tell me who and what you are?" @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She stared through her glasses at him with an amused expression taking over her features. But she shook her head "I'm not entirely sure what you were expecting," She reasoned with him with a shrug. She'd adjust the toga to make it more comfortable and warming around her shoulders as she sat on the ground and finally looked up to consider him. She had her own opinions, but they were hidden behind a mild smile and spectacles that perched on the end of her nose. "We're always winging it." She laughed a little and shook her head "You don't get it yet, but you will." She sighed a little and leaned back on her hands, flipping her tail into her lap and letting it rest there while he asked who her boss was. That only made her smirk wider. She dropped her head and licked her lips. "I'd explain the complexities of it all but you'd find it... Fatalistic. Needless to say if I die tonight, it would have been for a reason." She shrugged. "Call it what you like, but if I remembered and dwelled on everytime this has happened, I've seen wars or pain... I'd be crazy and about as evil as all I ever vowed to fight." She nodded, not offended that he chose to stay up instead. She would have been more surprised if he'd rolled over to sleep and get a little rest. Her offers seemed to be resisted and she didn't press them on him. If he didn't want warm dinner, he didn't have to have it. If he wanted exhaustion, he could have that. It made little matter to her in the long run of it all. This man was just her deliverer, as far as she knew, to a fate she didn't resist but also didn't fancy. His questions were answered with a simple "I am. I'm the boss of me and I suppose yes, I choose to do this. To follow you. But you aren't giving me a lot of reasons to." She pointed out in a rather gentle way before she let herself lie back and watch the stars. She seemed to be trying to find constellations as he queried about who she was. "I told you. I'm a doctor. My names Darcina Nacht.

7:04 PM

I'm clearly a feline hybrid" she wiggled her ears and tail and paused a moment to pressed her lips together before closing her eyes "Or at least that was who I used to be. I still remember that life. It might have been my first..." She sighed and let out a chime of a voice as she went on gently "I trained to be a Doctor in an old city of all beasts and monsters. There was clockwork and pretty dresses." She smiled "And warm men and gentle people who came in just to see me. And then I told a celestial I'd die for him." She paused and her perpetual smile finally faded. "And I did." She didn't specify but left it hanging a moment. Throat clearing "Who are you? What are you? What is this world you pulled me into? And where exactly are we headed?" She fired off her questions slowly but with enough intensity to try to pull away from anymore of her nature or who she used to be. Whatever it was, she was a being summoned by object now, designed by fates to carry out small or big tasks for whole worlds never her own. @PhoggyΨυχη

He was no psychiatrist. The only subtext he got from her was that she constantly sacrificed herself at the altar of others. That wasn't going to solve this problem or stop this war. Besides that, though, she was very clearly from another world and time. He noted her upward gaze; there would be no constellations she would recognize. "Yet you're still following me..." He mused aloud, smirking as he gauged her reaction. Maybe she simply did not want autonomy or she was not used to it. Like a cat on a leash, she seemed to be content with following instead of tugging. "I'm Fyreth. Sorcerer. Avatar of Tiamat. All that stuff. A dragon, obviously. You're in Ur'ya. That's the continent, at least. More specifically? The Swamp of Poison and Pestilence. Very catchy name. Super original." "We're heading to an encampment in the mountains where a main faction of the resistance is currently operating out of." He had no reason to hide this, after all. Still, he could see that she wore her strings with acceptance while Fyreth had cut his long ago. He held his own leash and directed his own footsteps as he made his way through life. @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She continued to peer up at the sky, at the new stars that made her smile reappear. His talking helped too. He wasn't being as withdrawn anymore at least. As much anyway. She'd take it. He lived how he lived and she did how she did, when she could, they could disagree on how to do that without losing sight of the actual goal. "I am" she retorted in her ever-patient voice "Would you prefer I run screaming into the night?" She grinned wider and her ears perked up a little as she put her hands under her head casually for a pillow to rest her head on. She seemed perfectly comfortable on the ground, perfectly accepting. "You're a good person," she finalizes for him "I could sense it or I very well would have run away from you. So I'm following you to see where my fate takes me. Apparently an encampment." She smiled a little more "I hope you have mead here," She sighed. She was quiet for a long while. Her hues tracing and searching the skies as she considered the information that he'd given her so far. It was enough. She even laughed and peeked up at him a little with a grin when he joked about the name of the place "Could be the Swamp of Certain Death," She returned with a little giggle before resting her head again. "Well, Fyreth, I appreciate you bringing me here. I don't enjoy how fate throws me around, but I can appreciate life when I get it," She reasoned with a mild shrug shifting her form, "And I'll make plenty of my own choices, don't you worry. I'm sure you'll hate many of them." She grinned a little wider and coiled her tail around her leg. "How did this all begin? Was it the slow ebbing of humans in the worlds they didn't understand or a sudden onslaught of corruption?" She asked it in such a casual way. So relaxed even in the Swamp of Poison and Pestilence. @PhoggyΨυχη

"I'm not a good person. Hells, I'm not even a person. Believe what you want, though." He crossed his arms and looked a bit off into the night. "Pretty sure we'll have mead. I've only got wine on me. Sorry." Fyreth shrugged and turned back to her. "Not my place to comment on your decisions as long as they're your decisions." How did this start... Well, that wasn't a fun story. "You want the long story of the short story?" He narrowed his eye and looked at her before letting the air out of his chest. "Their king killed my wife, I killed their king; they used that as the catalyst to start this whole godsdamned war." He held a bit of the blame for it, true. But he did not hold himself too accountable for it. He took revenge - an eye for an eye - and that was just an excuse for the humans to be hateful. "It was just an excuse for them. They wanted our power long before that, but it wasn't until they had-" he made air quote-"a reason" to attack us." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

The nekomata continued to trace the stars, going as far as to reach up with her hand and do so in real time. She smiled a little more at his comments back "No good person thinks they're a good person." She said in her eye patient way. "Wine sounds nice though, if you don't mind sharing." She added with all the air that she'd take 'no' well. She shrugged at the last bit. It was only when he started to go into detail that her hand fell from it's tracing of the night sky's stars and she dropped her smile once more. She sighed and closed her eyes before she took a deep breath. Like for a moment she felt a buried pain that wasn't hers. She bit her lower lip before letting a moment pass and finally speaking, "It usually takes a straw. That's all a greedy man needs." She relented as much. She wasn't so perky and gentle that she didn't understand the realities of all worlds. And that was that those who could take, would take. "I'm sorry about your wife," she shook her head "I suppose the king got what was coming to him. Why did he kill her?" She asked. The question wasn't pressing but it was asked in a direct fashion. Still she never got up from her laying spot on the ground. Staring at the new sky that would be her home for awhile she assumed. Or not so long. It always depended. "Do you all have plans for how to end it?" She followed up. They had to have summoned her for a reason. For some purpose they had in line. Or maybe she was just their last ditch effort. She didn't know. @PhoggyΨυχη

It was a physical pain as well as an emotional one. It was meant to be that way. His scars illuminated as he mentioned Rhexia. "Why do humans do anything? Power. He waited until I was gone and killed my wife and the rest of the nymphs in the forest. He hoped it would give him power. But I made sure that he did not have power, even in death." He spoke with the nonchalance of someone used to the pain, or maybe even numb to it. "I have— had a plan," he sighed and rubbed his forehead. "The main reason the humans keep winning is because all of the races of mythical creatures won't come together. Every, EVERY human kingdom is united in this cause. But the Abyss, the Infernals, the Fae, the... well, everyone... they don't want to work together. They all think they have their own way of doing this. They're all isolated. I was contracted by the Genasi - Air, Fire, Water, and Earth - to do this ritual. It used elemental magic and it was extremely shoddy, so I had to improvise a bit. And, this, you." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She peeked up a little, her ears perking and fur standing on end on her tail as she felt something... off. He wasn't like most, some maybe but she often felt people were all different no matter how similar even in aura. His pain came off him in waves but it was more like the gentle waves of a beach, quiet and soft. Accepting. She knitted her brow and stared at him with bright blue eyes a moment before nodding and putting her head back down on her folded hands to watch the stars. "Then you did exactly what need be done. Anyone who takes life so mercilessly shouldn't be afforded any themselves." She sighed. Her voice was soft and sad at that fact but it was one she'd learned a long while ago and it had never left her. No matter her incarnation. As he went on to explain what he'd done and the 'plan' he had, the cogs worked in her head to put the pieces together. Still tracing the stars with her eyes and trying to track them. She might not always have someone with her to help her navigate. She didn't know. He seemed so dismissive, almost as though he'd given up far before summoning her. Though she couldn't know that for sure unless she asked, and judging by how frustrated he already seemed, she felt it best to not push. "Well," She started with a sigh "At least they're races I know, to some degree. With the Abyss, we'll have to cater to the reality they'll be faced with if they can't haunt the mortals any longer. The infernals will need to be tempted with their souls, but that shouldn't be too hard to explain, as distasteful as I find it." She sighed again and adjusted her glasses "The Fae... thats more tricky. They usually have very little sake in mortal problems or that of lessers but I think if we can cater to their love of humanity, we can convince them that helping would also save the ones they like to frolic with." She sighed again and bit her lip "I'm assuming the Genasi are already on board or else they wouldn't have helped you? And it wasn

4:41 PM

't that shoddy. I've been summoned more violently." She assured. @PhoggyΨυχη

He listened to her musings and, while she made good points, it would be a much harder sell for all of them than that. "The Genasi didn't have me summon you to save the other races; they hired me to save them." He grabbed a stick from the grass and stuck it in the ground. "While the most neutral, they are far from willing to go through the effort of courting the other races and nations." He grabbed another stick and thrust it into the dirt, lighting it with a black faerie flame, "the Abyssals," then another stick with a green faerie flame, "and the Fae will be the most difficult to convince by far. More so the Abyssals than the Infernals. The Abyss, at the lower level, enjoys the pleasure of chaos, while the Higher Abyssals enjoy the destruction and decimation. The Demon Lords and Devils also feel untouchable - and rightly so. It would take eons for the humans to develop technology and forces strong enough to pierce the abyssal hearts of those bastards." "The Fae are haughty bastards, for the most part. Much like the High Elves, they see themselves as untouchable and beyond the reach of the humans. Any report to the countrary is treated as heresy." He rolled his eyes and dashed his hand across the sticks in frustration, extinguishing the flames and casting the wood to the side. "The Infernals and Tieflings, Half-Elves, Kalashtar, Half-Orcs, and the others like them will be easier to convince. By all rights, especially the Half-Elves and the Infernals, they should be accepted amongst the humans as they are usually the result of a human and a mythical being intermingling. But they're treated as less-than. Impure. They have a sorrowful hatred of the humans, but they are few in number. They have already banded together, but their days are definitely numbered." He paused for a moment and thought about whether or not to divulge this information. It was a deep secret that only he held, but he knew that the while the Gith and the Aasimar had no interest in the fight -

5:32 PM

far less than The Abyss - there was one mortal group that cared even less. "My kind will not help. We are too divided. Some like the other races, some do not. Some enjoy the chaos. Some want to see the humans burn. But they will never agree," he covered eye shined through once more. "Not even the Heads of Tiamat can agree on what to do. I'm sure Bahamut has convinced his offspring to help, but we are not so agreeable." He tapped his eyepatch and shrugged his shoulders. "So you can see the kind of predicament we're in." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

Her ears perked up from her laid position to listen to each word said with complete focus. She had to know all she could and she absorbed the information like a sponge as he went on. She nodded, her hair mussing against the ground as she bit her lower lip in thought. "So," she breathed in and sighed while her eyes darted over the stars "We start with this encampment. From there we work with the hybrids you spoke of. Since they're more accommodating to your ideas, I hope." And put her finger to her lips as she thought it over. "From there well acess how large our forces are and navigate which of the "higher"" she used air quotes "Races would be more open to negotiation with a larger force behind us. We can build on numbers, if that makes sense." Her twitter of a voice stopped a moment before she sighed deeply. "Do the Genasi expect you to take me back to them? Perhaps they didn't read the full text before passing the role of summoner to you." She laughed a little "I only take directions from the soul that brought me here. I do hope they have no plans to try to control or otherwise use me. Per the spell, only you can do that. And you already told me to choose my own path." She grinned and shook her head as she laid there like she was on a chaise lounge "No one ever reads the fine print, do they?" She laughed again "So, thoughts on my ideas?" She quired with her cat ears tilted like satellites toward him. @PhoggyΨυχη

Hope was the keyword. The issue with the half-breeds was not whether or not they would want to fight, but whether or not they had the morale to fight. Being beaten down enough had that kind of an effect on a person, especially a whole people. "I can promise you that our forces won't be very large with the hybrids. More than that, their encampment includes everyone - women, children, men - so I would say that most of the force isn't even a fighting force." It would also be a more difficult proposition for the High Elves if they brought Half-Elves to their side. "I don't really care what they want me to do. My contract states I was to summon someone and then bring them back. What you choose to do after that is up to you, doc." He shrugged his shoulders and let out a huff of smoke from his maw. "I doubt they thought that far ahead, though. But they know that a fight with me is on they can't win." "There is... one other set of options option." The idea hit him like a ton of bricks and he wore his displeasure on his face. He hadn't thought of this before, but for good reason. He was rather loathe to bring this up; he knew it would be a relatively safe option as they would fight with them, but it would also turn away some of the other races. "The Drow - the Dark Elves. Orcs. Goblins. Warriors and fighters. The nonhuman non-high races. They will fight with us because they love to fight. But we can forget all hope of having any of the higher races fighting with us. Especially the High Elf purists." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She listened closely with her lips hmming from left to right. She considered all he laid before her up to this point and what she could do in regards to it. On one hand she could entirely see herself being some diplomat and reuniting the 'high' races in a great upheaval to be told about for ages to come and song would be sung of the great diplomat who would probably die without much care. Her service being proved. But he had said she could choose. An option she hadn't had in so long that it caught her off guard. Generally, being a summoned being, she was forced to do the bidding of whoever summoned her. A fact she laid out with all the discare in the world, though it did, in fact, matter to her. An idea occurred to her, something she'd never really done before. An option and path she'd never walked. She was some creature of 'light and joy,' but was she anymore? She examined for a second the very fact that she had grown so used to her way of 'life' as an instrument that she really wasn't what the text said anymore. Not here, anyway. Slowly she sat up and adjusted her toga while she looked him over. Leaves and debris from the ground in her hair. "I think I'll follow you," She decided "I haven't met anyone else yet, but from the sounds of it you have a better sense of this place than most, and a better understanding. Maybe I am a little sick of just being a fate tool. A tool to do as told. So I'm choosing to follow you and I'm choosing, right now, to agree. We should seek out the fighters of this world, rally them, and finally crush these damned humans into the ground." Her voice was so gentle but there was something firm in her tone. The first real choice she seemed to have made in millennia. @PhoggyΨυχη

Fyreth wasn't a tactician by any means. He could lead, yes, but drawing up battle plans for wars was not something he considered himself adept at. His words, then, had been the extent of his plan. To that effect, he was also not know as a uniter of peoples; he hoped this furry girl would be better at that. "Okay," he took a deep breath and steadied his shoulders, "so, from where we are, we have a pretty nice path to the Underdark where the Drow are. We'd have to go much further in to a livable biome for us to find the Orcs. From there, maybe we would have a force strong enough to encourage the half-breeds to fight with us." The cogs turned in his head; though his glowing blue eye left much of its features hidden, his narrow gaze displayed his processing. With a large enough force, they could even bring the others into the fold. Of course, this meant that they would need to get the lower races on board first." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

Bright eyes watched him as he laid things out and she nodded. It made sense and tracked with most places she'd been. And though he may think he had no eye for these things, pun intended, he seemed to have enough of a handle that the nekomata was more then ready to follow his lead. "It shouldn't be too hard," She scooted a little closer and nodded encouragingly "These races are generally put down, pressed upon more then others. In my experience anyway. I think they'll want to join if for no other reason than to be the heroes for once," She sighed, what a concept. "So we start there, underdark. Are we bothering with this encampment still?" she pushed a long lock of hair behind a twitching cat ear and canted her head slightly "I have no interest in forcing unions over races that think they better than others. The drow might have their flaws in that way, but perhaps that very fact is what will drive them to prove it," She pointed out to him. "Is there a central kingdom we'll focus on? Or smaller skirmishes? I'm not a fighter," She warned with a shake of her head "I'm a doctor. I can tell you how to kill and where to hit, but I've never known how to do it myself. In any life. I'll help you, but you have to protect me," She offered to him. She didn't know if it was appealing at all to him. He'd treated her with nothing but numbness and what she thought was mild distaste. But she wanted to help, she wanted to see this ending through to a different conclusion for a change. Maybe even leave the world truly different then how she'd come into it, for a change. @PhoggyΨυχη

"It's up to you. We can meet back up with the Genasi, but that just might be more trouble than it's worth." He looked around at their encampment, still noting the tents. "If I put up some warding spells, will you at least try to rest? Hells, I'll even sleep if it makes you comfortable. But we don't really know how your body works in this world and I don't need you collapsing on me." Fyreth, for his part, let out a yawn. Sleeping wasn't necessary for him, but it was a quick way to build up some mana and rest his magical circuits. "To start, we could hit the biggest city in the Underdark: Menzoberranzan. We'll need to be careful on our way there, though. Don't need you getting snatched by a Mind Flayer." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She watched him with perked up ears and a curious look before slowly raising up. She had a grace to her that was uncanny. Weirdly so, even. But her tail wrapped around her legs and she adjusted her glasses to look toward the tenting area. She sighed and relented "Fine." She told him in her patient and loving tones. Wearing that perpetual smile again. Crossing the path between them she looked him over with some consideration "I will, if you will," She made the deal easy enough "I'll do whatever 'rest' is for me in this world and if it happens to be sleeping, so be it," She shrugged slightly and laughed a little. "I think you might be right. I only truly answer to the summoner. Whomever gave you the abilities and means, doesn't hold any baring on my fate. So I have no interest in meeting this Genasi" She flitted her hand in the hair lightly with a dismissive look and continued smile. "They'll want to use me as some weapon without realizing exactly what I am," Her eyes widened slightly and she rolled them. "So, we rest, and when you're ready we'll head to this Menzoberranzan. Underdark usually means Drow. So they won't be receptive to either of us. Though they'll like me more for my gender at least," She gave a little laugh as though finding it rather preposterous. "Sound like a solid plan, summoner?" She asked him with a fold of her pale and tanned arms over her chest and look over him "Oh, but first, perhaps we can go to a town or something nearby so I can get some amenities... Like clothing," She smirked a little, resisting the urge to snort. Her pale eyes flicked over the area "And where do you want me to rest up so you can keep your eye on me? I suspect the suspicious summoner doesn't want me out of his site," She did laugh at that and shook her head a bit with a sigh. @PhoggyΨυχη

"We can probably hit up a town or something. Maybe get you a leash and a collar; I've always wondered what it would be like to have a cat as a pet," he teased back. He glanced over at the tents he'd set up; she didn't seem outwardly hostile and she couldn't hurt him anyways. More than that, she couldn't run due to the link between them at the moment. He kept her here with his own steady flow of magic, charging her battery, so to speak. "Feel free to take your own tent. Don't really think there's much you can do to me at this point. I mean, you're welcome to try; you'll fail, but you can try." He rolled his shoulders, the tight muscles aching from the day's tolls. "And as for the Drow, don't worry about it. They don't mind me. I find them far more tolerable than I do the High Elves." He scrunched his nose at the mention of the latter; there was only one high elf he liked and even she was an oddity amongst her race. "Either way, that's a worry for tomorrow. Pick a tent and get some rest. I'll take the other one." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

The nekomata covered her lips and laughed, her ears perking at his joke "Oh stop," She gave him a piercing blue eyed glare but couldn't help the grin. Shaking her head "You try to leash me or collar me and I'll bite," She snapped her teeth at him, a pair of tiny fangs to be seen. But she laughed in a musical way and sighed with a nod "I would appreciate clothing though, so yes, if we could stop and find me some more suitable things, that would be wonderful," She laughed again and covered her lips. Considering the two tents before her she chose one at random and went to the head of it, looking back at him while she took her slow and graceful strides toward her resting area "I don't worry about much. If you're meant to kill me, you're meant to kill me. I'm not meant to kill anyone," She shrugged and pulled the flap back lightly. "I hear that often about High Elves." She grinned at him, her ears wiggling "I think it's something about their haughtiness in most Universal planes." She laughed again, again covering her lips and closing her eyes. "Now I will go lay down and I will do so because you're insistent and will only do so yourself, but if my version of rest here is just sitting idly, don't be shocked. Just wake me when you do," She added and turned to go inside. But she stopped, turning a little back to him and pushing a long lock of hair behind her ear, she watched him a moment and bit her lower lip "Thank you," she began "You're the first in a long line to not command me around like a dog, I prefer outdoor cat," She smirked a little before she ducked inside. There she would lay down on the bedding provided, staring at the roof of her tent like she had the stars. She had a bit of confusion on her mind but it was nothing that wouldn't be figured out, she told herself. Turning on her side she watched the other tent through the firelight that would illuminate any shadows, questions on her mind about the people here, the situation, and the jaded summo

12:16 AM

ner that had brought her here. @PhoggyΨυχη

He took her teasing on the chin, but made a note to make sure they got her clothes. while he wore them mostly out of societal pressures, she seemed to desire them. Couldn't hurt, though. "Let's hope that's true; I don't have it in me to train someone to kill." For Fyreth, rest was a luxury far more than it was a necessity. When she retired to her tent, he did the same. It had been a long day and rest, no matter how uncomfortable, was welcome, if for nothing else than to rest his achey bones. He laid sideways on a thin mat that barely separated his body from the ground and closed his eyes. Maybe he would dream tonight. Maybe they would be good dreams. For the catgirl, however, her dreams took a different form. She found herself sat rundown house; small cinders sparked, though produced no fire. It seemed the building had recently burnt down. Darcina sat in a chair which faced another figure: a young catgirl with wild hair and dark eyes only illuminated by the fire raging outside of the ruined building. "Who are you and how did you get to this world?" The girl asked, her young voice underpinned by a commanding authority. It would certainly be unnerving, if not outright scary. She seemed to be bigger than her small form; as if an aura of might radiated from her.

5:46 PM

5:46 PM

@🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She entered the tent and laid down. Closing her eyes but not expecting much, to be honest. In most places she was summoned, she didn't sleep. Why? She didn't know. She assumed it had something to do with her being an ever vigilant force in a needy world. But she also didn't think so highly of herself. The truth was, as she laid down and closed her eyes for what she was sure was a journey into the benign and boring, that she was always just a catalyst. The right tipping point to bring any war to an end. Be that by marriage, by seduction, by slavery, by service, she had experienced it all. And she had no expectations of anything different in this one. Save for one thing. Her 'handler' wasn't at all what the usual were. He seemed to have no idea what she was, what she could do, her purpose or being for this place. He was an anomaly in many lifetimes of boring repetitiveness. Her head hit the soft, straw encased pillow and she closed her eyes. Her dreams flashed and in them, she found some rest but a rather odd... dream? Vision? She sat across from what looked like a younger her, a her before the curse, before the gods intervened. She stared through her glasses, the piercing gaze meeting piercing gaze. Apparently in her life she was quiet and soft but her mind was rather strong willed. "Why is that any of your business?" She scoffed a little and put her hands in her lap, staring at them for a moment. "I was summoned. I'm always summoned in times of great need by those who seek whatever artifact I'm tied to when I died. In this case, it happened to be my journal. Written in old tongue." She sighed softly and stared ahead at the younger nekomata before her. "I'm Darcina. I'm always been Darcina and that's the only thing that's still mine through so many lives and miseries." She sounded somewhat snide "Answer all your questions or can I go back to staring at the stars?" She rolled her blue eyes and shook her head as they closed and she lowered h

7:53 PM

er form a little in her seat across from her. "I'm just... me... And because I trusted the wrong person, I ended up a martyr for all my eternity. Do you know how long that is?" she stared up with a half-laden gaze at her and sighed. "It's endlessness. It's dying for a cause until there are none left. It's a life left up to fate with no love or mercy but that of the sleep I get between summonings." She summarized for her. "My life is endless... and it's tragic... And I'm tired of explaining why the choices I made while a mortal wound me up here." She threw her hands up slightly and shook her head. Her long mane of curly hair spawning out around her. @PhoggyΨυχη

The young girl blinked as she listened to Darcina rant and rave about her history and struggles, as broad a stroke as she used to paint them with. Her ears twitched at the harsh tongue the elder neko used to speak. She played mindlessly with her own hair, all the while Darcina spoke. "Are you finished now?" She asked, standing up. "If I would have known you talked to kids this way, I would have chosen an older form. Maybe you would have been gentler." The girl shrugged her shoulders causing her wild locks to bounce. "I will not speak in riddles or tongues; I have no reason to. So, I will, as you say, 'get to it.' I am known as Bastet. Whether you have heard of me or not is none of my concern. What is of my concern, though, is you. Your kind is an anomaly as it is neither cat nor human, but rather a mix of both. You are no Tabaxi or changeling, either. To put it bluntly," Bastet's hands feel to get hips. She was eye-level with Darcina as the latter sat in the chair. "I don't know what to do with you. All mortal or fleshly beings rely on the natural mana wavelengths of their world. They may travel between worlds and adjust due to the natural laws of said world." The girl waved her hand and the image of a sleeping Fyreth displayed between them, "were this dragon to travel to a world where dragons did not exist, he would need to find a way to adjust to match the natural laws of the world, be it a human transformation or an entirely reptilian one." The image vanished and the girl looked back at Darcina with a stern, yet confused, look. She lolled her he'd to the side and seemed to groan in frustration. "As for you, however, you are not able to do this. Your form seems to be immutable and outside of your own control, or even the control of the deities in this realm. Your very existence threatens the fabric of this world. Your waves shake and rumble and disturb the natural wavelengths of this world as they flow opposite and in stark deference to ours. So, I

8:16 PM

can grant you two options. The first, you may form a pact with me and I will stabilize you as an otherworldly avatar of myself. The second option is that we do what we can to eliminate you, no matter the cost. Whether it is by sealing you away or obliterating you, this disturbance cannot continue."

8:16 PM

@🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

Darcina slowly smirked as the entity revealed herself, her eyes tracking her "If I had thought for a moment you were a child, I would have. You don't live as long as I do, Bastet, and not realize when you're being manipulated in slumber." She gave a shake of her head "You gods, you never think much of us, do you? We're just little chess pieces you move around and I'm a stubborn little pawn your counter gods have deemed worth something," She snerked "Bitter much?" Yes, in her dream state she was... harsher. Perhaps revealing a fire she kept under control when so easily moving in life. Or perhaps her very nature was that of a ember inwardly, and water outwardly. Either way her head shook as it was laid out for her and she sighed. "Do you know how many times I've heard this? You can try to obliterate me, but you can blame one of your little celestial messengers for that." She rolled her eyes. Slowly she stood up in her full grace and dignity, adjusting what was very well-tailored victorian style clothing on her form, down to a knee lenth dress and boots. A corset around a nice peasant dress that left her looking more regal. As the goddess changed herself, Darcina did to. Her hair forming up into a nice curly bun and her glasses adjusting without being touched. Her form moved till she was about 3-4 feet from the diety and she smiled at her "I'll consider your pact, if you tell the conditions. I already went down the road of not reading the fine print once. And while you could destroy me... I'll just go back into stasis, this land will be doomed, and another will call for me," She shrugged "So name your conditions because I've become rather fond of Fyreth and I'd like to help him. But not if it means another millennia in another realm doing your bidding. So, terms, please," She smiled warmly at her and seemed more amenable to talk now that she'd revealed herself. @PhoggyΨυχη

"You seek guidance... I can grant you this. Power, though, seems like something you do not want nor need." The goddess stood like a bulwark, unaffected by the visitor from beyond the stars. "It seems that you do not realize the toll all of this has had on you..." She vanished and appeared behind Darcina. "I can see the strings of the fates tugging, threatening to snap. See, no one is truly immortal." She reached out and, like playing a guitar, plucked at one of the invisible strings. "Fate can be cut. There are forces outside of the natural and even godly that control this. I recognize my place in the cosmos as a lesser deity compared to this who control fate... or the lack thereof." Bastet shook her head and appeared in front of Darcina yet again. "This world is as close to the Root as any world can be. From the explosion of millions, this world is but a few iterations from the epicenter of the beginning. Its life, then, is running its course." A large, shadowed hand hung over the pair before closing on them, pitching them both into darkness. "The closer a world grows to extinction," she said, "the more The Madness sets in. Humanity is the powder keg through which every world bearing its curse will explode. They are prone to outside interference without knowing. Greed- sin is not a natural occurance. It came into the world through foul means and, as humans are furthest from the gods, they are prime targets for malicious influence." The world around them came back to light; this time, they were in a dungeon cell. The walls were of wet cobblestone, the floor matching. Dim moonlight drifted in through the barred window opening. "Everything in this world is trapped. It is destined to fall and die. The few creatures deigned worthy, such as you or Fyreth, may ascend to a higher status, should you not perish in the collapse of yet another world. Unfortunately, it does not look like that has been the unlucky dragon's fate this far." She held up her hand and counted e

5:32 PM

ach finger, "he has been through this five times. His story always ends with the destruction of the world. It is inevitable. He is cursed to forever pass on to the next iteration, reliving some variation of this struggle. The world will always end with him. It's a cruel fate; he can stop a god, but he cannot stop a Primordial Force. Neither can you." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

The nekomata stood still as the goddess materialized in various places and spoke to her, keeping her eyes forward and sighing softly at the first words said "I'm not immortal. I die all the time. I'm endless. I'm a vessel." Even so she shuddered and her tail wrapped around her legs at the sound of something being plucked. All the same she let her go on. Her brows raised and she finally turned to look at her, her eyes narrowing slightly behind her spectacles. "This is a Root Universe?" Her eyes widened ever so slightly at the realization that this place was closer to any than the others to the strings of fate and the cosmos. The first 'strand' if you would of the strings that all went out and branched to make it all. The planes Darcina traversed. The places she was sent. "I didn't know that... Humanity does that. Even in worlds were it's all there is, they eat themselves like hyenas." she sighed and shook her head as she looked up at the large shadow above them. It was all starting to make sense. Slowly. She wasn't so well traveled that she followed it all but the realization that Fyreth was also living a loop made her realize why she felt a bond with the surly bastard. She touched her chest a moment and clutched a locket that she didn't have in the waking world. "Five times now... And it ends in destruction... This... Isn't good." Her bright blue hues widened and she stared at the goddess before her. "My nature demands I die for a cause to help the worlds I go into live. If his is destruction..." she paused "I can't imagine what that would do to the time fabric." She admitted in a soft sigh "We'll either cancel eachother out or... I don't know what else." She went on "I... I've never encountered someone who ended their world instead of saving it and I don't know still what bargin you want me to make." She stared at her, wordless a moment as she tried to fit it all together. A mild panic taking over her for a brief second before she sighed. "What need

7:25 PM

s to be done? You need to name your price so I can decide to pay it and figure this out" She stared at her "The world always begins again with me, it always ends with him. How do we stop whatever oddities are going to happen as a result? Death isn't a threat to me, Bastet." She reminded "I've been through it, wished for it, taken it myself. Im not afraid to die. I am afraid of time space ripping apart due to an anomaly that the fates should never have allowed." @PhoggyΨυχη

"Your body is not immortal. Correct. Your soul, however..." Bastet trailed off. "Worlds of magic and madness are prime pickings for a certain set of primordial creatures. As each universe is destroyed, some are plucked and moved to another. Shifted. If you will. Others are reborn in the world with fresh memories. Some..." She looked off to the side. "Are a cosmic joke. That dragon is cursed to be born, end his people, lose his wife, and be damned to suffering in every loop. You can imagine what that does to someone." Bastet turned back to her, "which is why you must not tell him. When he is told the truth of his existence, a seed of madness takes hold. 'If I can just get to the next world, I can do it all over again!' A being as tortured as he is not above razing the world to start over. To try again. Of course, he is not the only, ah, 'game over' that these worlds reach. But it has happened enough that Tiamat knows to keep secrets from her dog. Even if, deep down, he knows something is off." "My deal is this: you must not tell him or anyone the truth of this world. Furthermore, if he should become a threat, you must do everything in your power to kill him. I can help with this, but only once. It would be akin to killing a god." Bastet replied with a hint of nervousness. There was a sudden shake; a rumble. A roar. Something was trying to break through into the dream. "We are out of time. I cannot delay here any longer. I will be able to contact you later, but, please. Agree to make this pact with me. I have stated my conditions: do not tell anyone and put a stop to the dragon when the time comes. If you agree to this, I will make sure to give you guidance to navigate to the end of this world and, maybe, even save it." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She watched and listened with perked ears pointed at the goddess. The gravity of it hitting her. She touched her heart and lowered her head as she muttered to herself, a pain in her voice "So that's why he's so jaded and lost... he's doomed to repeat... is there any breaking of the chain of it?" She asked with a note of hope and desperation there. She had to consider the offer as it was laid out and the truth if what her summoner was. Perhaps her mission was to end him to end the loops, as the goddess seemed so keen to do if need be. Maybe it was something else. She never lost hope, in any rendition she was in, in whatever world. Even a root one. She stared the goddess down as terms were laid out and the walls shook. Reaching uo to adjust her glasses as she let them tremble a moment more before stating "I will not tell him and should it come to it... I will stop him." She closed her eyes with a deep inhale. Her words were quiet, soft, eyes still closed as she asked "He's coming, isn't he?" @PhoggyΨυχη

"Something far worse. It seems," Bastet took a step back, "things may be moving quicker than expected. Take care now to not let The Beast in." She gave a small wave as the dream faded and Darcina returned to the waking world. Fyreth had been awake for some time, something having awoken him from his sleep. He was staring down at a star map in confusio, occasionally checking up at the night sky. "That can't be right..." He picked up the map and held it up above his head, comparing it to the stars that canvased the sky. His covered eye flickered ever so slightly and he frowned, "I know. I know! That means..." He threw the map at the ground before he barged into Darcina's tent. "Okay, I need some information from you: who did you originally make your deal with for... this. And what is your earliest memory?" @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

The femme was awake with a sudden burst of her eyes and staring at the walls of the tent. Tears welling up and her mind swirling. Some part of her had wanted something different for a long time. Now that same part of her regretted its wishes. When Fyreth burst in she stayed laying down, cringing from the yelling she'd heard and the confusion outside she'd heard even before that but hadn't really registered till now. She felt numb, just staring at the tent wall and letting silent tears fall. His yelling made the back she had to him tremble but she didn't hesitate to answer with a sniffle "I was a young girl, with my parents on an island full of my kind. Maybe... 4?" She sighed in her sing song voice of melancholy "When I was a teenager, nearing my full season, I fell in love with one of my own kind, naturally." She smiled a little. "But then the... Beast men came. They skewered him on a stake and killed most of us. I fled. I washed up some months later on a beach in an unknown place. A place of... technology you wouldn't believe and developments that would make your mind ache with the insanity of them for this time period." She softly snorted at that thought, as so many others would break him more and now she knew. Sighing, she continued, still not turning to him, still letting tears that had a little to do with the questioning and yelling but mostly due to the dream she'd had with the goddess. The information she had now that she really didn't want. "I worked as a doctor there, things changed, I was pulled through portals and times... Eventually I came to a beautiful town of steam and magic." She smiled a little and laughed "I thought I found home. I thought I found love again," She shook her head till her face turned into the makeshift sleeping bag. "So, one day, this celestial that I loved, he needed to get out of a bargain he made with the gods. They wanted him to serve for all eternity for him being allowed to stay among mortals." She swallowed

12:00 PM

a little "And I decided to take his place. I reasoned I would die and after so he would move on and live an immortal lifetime... but... That wasn't what happened. Instead, they gave me immortality, then cursed me for insolence. Coincidently just before that, he called off our wedding, he had found a new lover and she was... in his words... better," She laughed a little "Give a man your entire life, he'll take it and run I suppose. At least some will." She sighed. "Does that answer everything or are you going to yell at me more?" She was curled into a ball and her voice shook, softly but still in it's quiet tones. She didn't seem to want to move and had removed her glasses to lay beside her instead, as though she didn't want to see the world right now. Not clearly at least. @PhoggyΨυχη

He knelt down before her, listening to her story. Tragedy, it seemed, was universal, though its form was different. He took in deep breaths, trying to steady himself while his right eye rapidly flickered. He gritted his teeth, both for the chastisement and for the story being to. Love seemed to be at the core of her story. Of her family. Of others. Of the bargain she made— a bargain he knew all too well. Her story was heart-wrenching; she gave up her life for a being that ultimately threw her away. He wanted to comfort her; how could he? His life was one of equal tragedy. He had not the words to encourage her. He couldn't even encourage himself. So, like a lumbering fool, he just reached out and pulled her into a hug. It was awkward and counter to his previous attitude. His dark blue form enveloped her as he held her tight. He knew she could empathize with his plight. Worse, she could empathize with this plight. His eye flickered again, "I know, I know... Not now." Blip blip. He pulled back and hung his head. "I... Have not been entirely truthful with you. But I cannot tell you the whole truth here. There is only one place safe for us to talk freely, but you'll need to trust me." He clenched his fist tight, holding for a moment before letting out the pressure, "I know you have no reason to trust me, especially with the admission I just made." He offered his hand, "but, I promise, I'll explain everything to the best of my ability." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She was like a limp doll as he moved her out of her curled position and into the awkwardness of a hug. Though she welcomed it. Odd at first when she had thought him more likely to hit her than hug her. But she wrapped her arms around his neck and warmly so. Her entire form seemed to give off a heat and gentleness. If her story was love at the core, then whatever she was as love itself. Warm, gentle. Even in her dreams, passionate and fiery. So much like the emotion that tore people in two without warning. She felt for him now more than ever. Before it was a simple journey to me a martyr. Now it was one to save his life, from this loop, from his own pain that welled off him in waves that always made her hair stand on end just a little. She'd never felt a more tortured soul. Enwrapping his neck in her arms, she laid her head in the crook of his neck, warm tears touching any skin or fabric there. She sniffled a few times as he calmed her and spoke before pulled away. She did the same to look at him. Her eyes like two clear blue pools of water. But she didn't look away from him as he spoke. The sound made her ears twitch and she looked around a moment in a flurry of messy hair and worry before back to him as she perched in his lap somewhat and stayed there with her arms around him, a gentle caress of comfort as he admitted he hadn't been honest. She said it simply and plainly "I know, but that's okay" she laughed a little and nodded with a swallow. "I trust you. I don't need more reasons or A reason. I just do" She sniffled again, trembling in his arms as he held her. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been held and it made her pause before she rubbed the back of his head softly "Don't feel sorry for me, I made my choices. It's beneath us to cry when we have to lay in the beds we make," She nodded to him. Her tears seemed to have so little to do with reliving her past, but she didn't say why she was now staring at him with more purpose than she'd h

1:46 PM

ad since first summoned. @PhoggyΨυχη

There wasn't exactly time to explain what he was about to do. Nor was there time to explain what was going to happen and await them when they got there. He held her tight, his mouth opening to let out a breathy spell. The words seemed to be nonsense; the language drinking made up. Because it was. The space around drained of color. The lines that made up the objects surrounding them unraveled and unwound. They stretched and pulled before snapping like a rubber band, coming back to trace new shapes before filling with color. What was once a small enclosed tent had become a large cavern with ever-lit flames. At the center stood a rather... odd-looking woman. Her very appearance seemed out of place, bright and colorful as she was. It was like someone had drawn her into the scenery, her otherworldly form and glow drawing all attention towards her. She held her arms up in the air and hopped up, "FyFy! Welcome back!" Fyreth gritted his teeth and looked over at Darcina with an awkward smile. "Darcina, meet, uh... Well, Pandora. The Pandora." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She held him as the world shifted around them, her eyes peering around as she reached for her glasses quickly and pulled them on. She stared all around and when they arrived at this strange place with this woman before them, outshining the scenery by miles, she rose her brows. Carefully she got up, using Fyreth's shoulder to guide herself and offering him a hand up. She smirked a little through her tear-soaked face at the way the woman called to him and she looked sharply up to Fyreth when he introduced them. Blinking several times before she looked to the eccentric femme before her and back at him and back at her again and then snorted. "The Pandora... The keeper of Hope" She bowed her head with some respect to her. Many would think the story of Pandora was about a foolish woman doomed to open up all the horrors of man. But Darcina liked to think it was a story of a woman who guarded hope more closely than anyone else. And she made that no secret as she gave her a warm smile with her bow "I'm Darcina, but you know that I'm sure," she laughed a little and covered her lips with her hand. She looked to Fyreth then and raised her brows, straightened herself as she awaited his explination. She wiped her face off with a corner of her sheet turned toga, and got herself righted as she smoothed out her hair, ears, and tail. @PhoggyΨυχη

Pandora put her hands on her hips and bore a bright smile "Keeper of Hope! I like that! FyFy, why don't you say nice things about me like that?" Fyreth ignored her; "can you get our guest something to wear while I fill her in?" Pandora stuck out her tongue and wandered off into the large cavern. "This place is the only place safe enough to talk. It exists both outside time and outside space— it's outside of creation as a whole." Fyreth sat down and a chair slid from the wall and landed underneath him. "I'm not the Fyreth. Not anymore. This might get a bit confusing, but I will do my best to explain..." He brought his hand to his face and the visage of a dragon faded. "This is a bit easier to get comfortable in. I'm not usually afforded the luxury of this face anymore." In the place of a large dragon was a well-built, white-haired, youngman. Still yet was the eye-patch on his eye and the markings on his arm. "I guess you could call me the Original Fyreth. The one 'the legends' are based off of — that's what Pandora calls my alternate versions... the ones that spin off and do their own thing... I don't know how much you know about my other stories, but those stories aren't mine... Mine is..." He ran his hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh, his chest deflating with a long-held breath. "These marks on my arm... In 'the legends,' they are the names of my fallen family. For the real me? This me? It's the mark of draconic fratricide. I murdered my brother Thundrake and, by giving power to the wrong person, brought about the end of my people. Pandora? The one traipsing around like she owns the place? She made a deal with me: she would give me the power and ability to destroy the woman who killed my people, but—" He tapped his eye patch, "I get the blessing of having Pandora's Box trapped right where my eye should be. It can be a handy tool sometimes. It's mostly a literal pain. This... Tiamat that all of the others worship? I'm beholden to no gods.

7:50 PM

I refuse. I reject that. For the longest time, it was Pandora and I. We had a... tenuous relationship. But we've gotten through that rough patch, I suppose. I really wish she would stop calling me 'FyFy,' though." He held out his hand and a glass of water flew into it, "go on. Think of what you want, within reason, of course, and this place will make it." He gulped down the water and tossed the cup, watching it vanish into the air. "I never got my revenge, you see," Fyreth brought his gaze back down to Darcina. "There was no 'happy ending for a time' for me. The stories will say that Rhexia, my, uh... wife... killed Aletheia. That never happened. In fact, Rhexia and I were never married. We never got that far." He stood up and stretched himself, getting reacquainted with this old, yet familiar form. He stretched his arms out before moving down to his legs, "I was never sent to another world. We never lived in harmony with the nymphs. There was no king that killed them. It's... worse than that." Fyreth leapt up onto the wall of the cavern, gravity seemingly having no hold on him; along the walls were shelves of various items and books, one of the latter which he grabbed and tossed it down to Darcina. It landed next to her and opened to the middle of the book. On the left side were written paragraphs, but on the right, the pages were blank. In fact, the rest of the book was blank.

7:50 PM

The last lines were: "I don't think that this is what Zeus meant by sacrificing the people I care about. I don't think the woman waiting for me back home would be very happy with my sleeping with another woman. Even if that woman was a goddess," Fyreth said, frowning at her. There had to be something she wanted that he could give her. Though, he was getting quite tempted by her. Her very body screamed pleasure and here he had a chance to experience the literal goddess of lust and love. "As much as I really really want to, I know I shouldn't, right?" He mumbled to himself. He did indeed need her help. He wanted all the help he could get to stop that witch. His resolve was fading however. If she kept this up, he'd be mighty tempted to give in. "My story ended there. The world simply ceased to exist. Rhexia, Aletheia, all of them— gone. Pandora and I survived. I haven't the foggiest idea why. I don't even know why my story abruptly cut off. I don't know where all of these so-called legends are coming from, but I've had to live someone else's version of my life for eons. There are always slight changes here and there, but their core tenents remain the same." He hopped back down, landing next to the seat. Then, like a madman, he began pacing. "I'm not conceited enough to think that this is all about me. The world, or, rather, worlds, don't revolve around me. But someone or something is creating and culling these worlds. You, simply by virtue of being you and being here, managed to break me out of the cycle. I can't explain it... It's like," he looked down at his hands with a frown. "It's like I'm a puppet. I'm forced to recite lines and perform actions that aren't my own in a story that isn't mine about a life that isn't mine. It's maddening. At the end of it, I return here and remember everything from each individual instance... Zee, Rhexia... They're all gone as if they never existed. Those worlds, like candles, extinguished." (edited)

7:50 PM

Pandora finally returned with a rather gaudy, fluffy robe adorned with tiger print. "Got this for you, kitty cat!" (edited)

@🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

Darcina smiled warmly at Pandora as she teased Fyreth and covered her lips as she laughed. Though the smile faded the more and more he spoke. When he revealed his 'true face', she canted her head and smiled a bit as though adoring him a moment. But only a moment as he went on to tell his own very sad tale. She had left gaps in hers. Whole chapters untold. But the truth was, that Darcina didn't want to remember her past. She knew it was there, she knew it had happened, she remembered the lessons. But she refused to go back there. Whereas Fyreth had lost pages, she had only closed her own books and left them on shelves. Considering a great many things as he spoke, as he conjured things and paced, ranted, raved, went about how he couldn't figure out the cycles, she remembered what Bastet had said, she considered, in that moment, telling him. But she was starting to put things together. Pandora's box lied within his eye, or rather socket, and each time he visited a world or new piece rather, he brought all the things the box released. It wasn't rocket science. Though she had studied that too. Even when he said she could conjure or create, she didn't. She just stood there and listened with her ears slightly back and a sad look, that looked so strange on her usual cheery features, sunk in. She sighed and looked to Pandora as she approached and raised a brow "Cheeky thing" She stuck out her tongue back and laughed softly to take the garments. She didn't pause for either of them. Undoing her toga, she spoke as she started to garb herself "Perhaps it's time you just... moved on Fyreth," she said in her soft and quiet voice. The gentle tones like music "You can't fight a battle forever, not one you expect to win. You only win when you stop playing their game... So lets not their game anymore," She pulled the robe up her shoulders and tied the front with a smile down at it "Subtle" She laughed "Thank you, sweet Keeper," She told Pandora with a bow of her head

8:34 PM

. She moved around to whisper softly in Pandora's ear "Can the other gods hear us here?" Before stepping around her subtly and standing beside her to speak to Fyreth again. "I'm sorry for what was taken from you, I'm sorry you can't remember, that these pages..." She gestured her hand across the blank ones "May never be filled. But hear me out," She said softly "Write a new story, lets find a way to break these cycles and find a way to continue. This loop..." she shook her head. "Fyreth, it's driving you mad. Slowly but surly. You have fits and bursts, you have a jadedness, you cannot continue to live in the past." She told him so sweetly and tenderly but so very firmly at the same time. Moving around Pandora, but only after she'd answered her question, she moved toward the mad and pacing man and reached out to put a soft hand on his upper arm "Look at me" She told him, gulping slightly "Look at me, please," if he did he would see... a sight. Darcina was half burned on one side of her body, melted really. The other was laced with lash and rake marks, stabs and jabs all over her body. Covered in blood and her ears and tail chopped off at weird angles. Crimson ichor leaked from places that only led the imagination to what horrors she had endured and she stared at him through it all with bright blue eyes. Her voice didn't shake or shutter, "This is me," She said finally "This is what I am, if you let my past define me. Do you find me beautiful still? An interesting edition to an already strange world? Or do I disgust you? Should I live in this past forever?" She asked him with a clutched hand that was missing several fingers and one that was wearing a bloody and old wedding band. @PhoggyΨυχη

He was torn from his reverie to see her. To really see her. He held her hand as she spoke and revealed herself. He didn't know what to say to this. "It seems to me you're stuck in a cycle as well." He finally eeked out his words, as hesitant as they were. "I know not what you've been through, nor do I want you to relive that by telling me. My past defines me insomuch as it helps me know that I'm the real me. The past is the past and there is no going back. Those books will never be finished. What keeps bringing me back into these things is trying to find out 'why' and 'who?'"" Pandora walked around the pair, examining them. She noted the scars as they were much like the ones she herself bore both inside and out, were she to show them. Then she stopped, "did you dream?" She looked intently at Darcina. "When FyFy sleeps, he doesn't dream. He can't. The facsimile of him isn't capable of that. It can't create; it can only imitate. Those worlds in general are kinda like that, too. But... You're different. You're a rogue, uhm... variable! Yea! That's it! The gods or whoever—honestly, they all suck—can account for new players, but they can't account for anomalies. True randomness. Chaos. That's why they hate me. Hm... I'm beginning to see a picture here." She put her hand to her chin, "I need to go think." Just as oddly as she entered, she left. Fyreth was left standing there with Darcina, her scars on display. "For what it's worth, I'm not the one who determines whether or not your scars are beautiful; that's your privilege. I don't get to define your trauma, but I respect it and I respect you." He gave her hand a squeeze and swiveled his head away from her, "I don't feel anything for my past anymore, if I'm being honest. These... loops, as you called them, cheapened it. It's like eating a fine meal and then being fed a poor recreation of it: I forget the feeling of the first and become numb to the second. I'm not in the worlds or stories by choice; I'm not (edited)

9:05 PM

under the impression that I can change anything, either. But this needs to stop. I want to write a new story, but for that to happen, these plagiarisms need to stop." (edited)

9:05 PM

@🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She grasped his hand with her bloody one. Smiling softly as he answered her. Though it faded soon enough, making her sigh as he responded. "You just need to stop asking why or who, because it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you stop asking. By asking, you push forth the loops, the continuations of chaos." She looked to Pandora. Her bloody image slowly fading back to her more... Attractive one. One free of anything but the lashes on her body from a life she lived before all the others. Faint scars compared to bloody wounds. Turning her head she looked to Pandora and laughed a little, shaking her head "Perhaps, chaos attracts chaos and I've been known as a tornado of good." she winked at the goddess but let her prance off without responding to her question. She would decide later what to tell him and when. For now she listened. Snaking the hand away she nodded to him, moving around to be just before him and looking him up and down "Do you know how we end them? Do you know how we stop them? By all estimations I should cancel them out. But if I do... I don't know what that means. Because I've been given information thats led me to believe that I can stop my own... loops I guess, too." She started to breath a little harder at the thought. She wouldn't have to be a vessel anymore. Suddenly she reached for his hands and grabbed them between hers, her small stature staring up at his white haired self with a hopeful look. A look of what was left in Pandora's Box. "We can help eachother, we can stop all this, write a new story." She told him and closed her eyes like a prayer as she held their hands together like one. "Please, just tell me what to do. We can stop this. We just need to figure out how... And if I'm here then it's already going to end in chaos." She smiled a little and continued to stare up with hopeful blue hues of wonder, "You aren't done yet. Neither am I." @PhoggyΨυχη

HFyr "The 'who' and 'why' do matter. Something is messing with reality and worlds, locking a part of me in this cycle. I don't know how to stop this; we've been trying." As she took his hands, he returned with a gentle squeeze. "I don't know if we can go back to the previous world. I fear it's already been razed. I was observing the stars before we came here... a lot of them were gone. Well, not gone, but covered by something. An inky black darkness that swallowed light. I don't know if that world will be there if we go back. If it's still there, there's no guarantee what it will be like." "You did say something, though. That you were 'led to believe'...? By who?" He asked, eyeing her with a skeptical curiosity. He tilted his head to the side and tried to gauge her reaction. @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

"The 'who' and 'why' do matter. Something is messing with reality and worlds, locking a part of me in this cycle. I don't know how to stop this; we've been trying." As she took his hands, he returned with a gentle squeeze. "I don't know if we can go back to the previous world. I fear it's already been razed. I was observing the stars before we came here... a lot of them were gone. Well, not gone, but covered by something. An inky black darkness that swallowed light. I don't know if that world will be there if we go back. If it's still there, there's no guarantee what it will be like." "You did say something, though. That you were 'led to believe'...? By who?" He asked, eyeing her with a skeptical curiosity. He tilted his head to the side and tried to gauge her reaction. @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She braced herself slightly. For one thing the pact had never been made with the goddess. Not properly anyway. She told her she would stop him if she had to. But things changed. The second part being that reality might cave in on itself but that was negated by the fact that he seemed to already know he was in a loop, a cycle that kept going. Holding his hands tight in her warm ones, she gripped them, pressing her lips together before she finally said "Bastet visited me in a dream, she told me to stop you. Tried to make me make a pact but she didn't do it right. She didn't ask for a promise or any thing of value to hold over me. And I don't think she can hear us here..." She paused and looked around "She... she said something about you being chaos.. and that every world you visit is doomed to die. But she was annoyed at me. Because I cancel that out. She tried to make me say I'd kill you if I needed to but" She smirked a rather wicked look "I said I'd stop you in that world if it came to it. Finally breathing out and in for the first time she nodded "But thats null now. So whats the next step? Perhaps... Perhaps we should go somewhere else, outside of all of this and these chains. A new place and world," She had hope for him. Not much for herself as she was going to always die and return in some fashion. But she could do the most with this life while she had it. @PhoggyΨυχη

"Bastet?" Pandora poked her head around the corner. "That bitch is dead, yo." "Pandora, please. At least try to have some decorum." Fyreth ran a hand over his face, yet still leaving one of his embracing Darcina's. "Oh, I'm soooo sorry, Lord FyFy. I forgot that we need to be proper in this, the House of the Lord," she gave him an over-the-top bow and walked over. "But yea. She's dead. Like god-dead, dead. Funny you should mention Null, though. Isn't he in your fake sister's canon? I've got this theory..." A pipe appeared in her mouth and a bushy mustache on her face. "That none of the gods in these worlds are who they say they are. So, what if it isn't a bunch of gods? What if it's just one and they're playing multiple roles?" Fyreth listened to Pandora's crackpot theory. She didn't have much to back it up, though. Just a guess. Still, she had far more knowledge and, well, wisdom, than he'd initially given her credit for. "I mean, that can be true, but that doesn't mean anything. I'm thinking the doc is right and we should just ditch this world and find a new place." "See, that's the problem: I don't think we can. I think something, like an anchor, is keeping you, me, and kitty here tied to our respective roles. Like, uh, puppet on strings or something. We cut the strings and we can get out of here, but we need to find the strings first. Yours is mine, but hers..." She turned back to Darcina. "Who did you make a deal with? Pre-whatever you are now?" @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

Perking up as Pandora peeked she covered her lips and laughed at the words and interaction. No one had been struck down by lightening so she assumed that that meant she hadn't made the pact Bastet had asked for and her wording had been on par. "Do what you like, dear. But do be careful," she told Pandora warmly and then looked back up at Fyreth, still holding one of his hands. "I think she's right. There's a common anchor, a common thread in our stories that's keeping us locked in these loops." She softly told Fyreth and smiled at him "I think we have more in common then we think. If we trace it back, it all comes back to love doesn't it?" She asked him with a raise of her brow "So how do we stop that cycle to move on to a new world to actually live? That's the question." She moved from him and started to tap her lower lip, adjusting her glasses with her free hand as she now started to pace as he did. Her brows narrowed in thought and ears back on her head as she pondered out loud "Breaking the chain of Chaos won't work... The other world we came from is gone. Going back to the start of things..." She paused and turned to Fyreth. She ran to him and grabbed him arm with a breath of words "We rewrite our stories. We go back to that world, all the way back to the beginning... And I stop you from finding the people that left you, and you stop me from making that pact. In theory, it's all happening at once anyway," She reasoned and even looked to Pandora for her thoughts on the matter. @PhoggyΨυχη

"You're talking about traveling back in time?" He felt torn. This was something a version of himself had tried before. It hadn't ended well. "I don't know about that... We are who we are because of these things... If we erase this stuff from our past, then who will we be at the end of it?" He ran his hand up and down her arm, hoping to comfort her. "Even if we wanted to do that, we still have two problems: the fake Bastet and our anchors. Yours may be more metaphysical, but I'm pretty sure I know what mine is and I'm pretty sure it's physical. I just don't know where it is." Pandora tapped her own eye, "you're probably spot on. It would have to be something consistent and you—" she stopped for a moment and ran over to Fyreth, pushing Darcina out of the way. She tore off Fyreth's eye-patch and began cursing. "Shit shit shit shit shit. Fuck! FUCK!" Fyreth pulled her off of him, "what? What the hell is going on?" "Fuck. Okay, so I'm starting to get a good picture of who is doing all of this and why, but I'm going to need some time to confirm everything. In the meantime, you guys have three goals." Pandora steadied herself as Fyreth retrieved his eye-patch. "One: Do not enter into another loop. We've got maybe three or four more times until we're fucked. Two: Find your anchors. Whatever and wherever they are. They're bound to be in this microcosm of a universe, so you might have to go back to since of the previous worlds like Darcina was saying. Odds are, they're at the Root. Three: Once you guys are free, you need to find Hephaestus. Got it?" "Pandora, don't you hate the gods? Why would we need their help? The only reason we'd need Hephaestus is if your box... was... broken..." Fyreth felt up at his eye patch. "Every time I went through a loop and 'Tiamat' took my eye, she or whoever it was was just trying to break through the box. To open it." "There are only a few chaos gods out there and there are even fewer who would be capable of something like

10:28 PM

this," Pandora brought her hand to her chin and started thinking to herself, tapping her foot. "I'll stay here and do some more digging, but you guys know what you need to do. Like it or not, FyFy, at the very least,you'll have to face your past. You too, kitty." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

The nekomata listened and watched, moving out of the way when she was ushered away by Pandora. Her brows raising as she tried to piece together the puzzle herself for a moment in a scrunched expression of thought. She adjusted her glasses and heard the woman out before looking to Fyreth. Feeling her heart pick up pace at the final words from Pandora, she looked to Fyreth and sighed softly as she caught her breath. "I suppose... Some things are starting to make sense. At least to me. The question for us now." She said as she stepped up to him "Is if we're going to try this or not." Her voice was gentle "I understand we're both in a purgatory, and then things could get worse. But my journey doesn't have to be yours." She told him with a pained look. She sighed. "I've been through so much and I don't want to pull you into that. I also have no clue where we have to go if not back into the loops. I'm not used to not being thrown about." She threw her hands up in a kind of frustration before folding them in her lap. "My point," she cleared her delicate voice "Is that you can opt out. I'll help you with your loops and this problem with your eye, but when it comes my time.... Just let what happens happen okay?" She smiled "Who knows, maybe thats why I'm here, to stop your loops" She smiled warmly. An expression of the ever martyr she was. It wasn't even on purpose. Her whole existence she'd been falling on swords not her own. And she did so willingly. She made it clear she'd help him however she could. Her loyalties shown when she'd revealed Bestet's, or whoever she had been, plans. But she also tried to make it clear that he didn't need to play knight for her. She had long accepted her repetitive fate and didn't wish to bring anyone into it who wasn't willing. And even then she wasn't sure. Peering up with bright blue eyes at him, she held her delicate smile and nodded "So, where do we go first? Your anchor probably has something to do with this woman you kee

1:38 PM

p mentioning. I suppose whatever ended there, ended in a way that was left... undone?" She suggested. @PhoggyΨυχη

Fyreth shook his head. "We're not doing mine first. We're doing yours. I havbe a gut feeling I know where mine is going to take us, and I'm going to need you at your best and brightest to do that." He took her hand and held it tightly. "I'm putting you first this time. So, if we're going to revisit pasts or worlds, we're going to start with yours. Your anchor is bound to be there somewhere, so we need to find it and get rid of it." There were other logistics he was thinking through as well. Should she be injured or die, he would be unable to bring her back if her soul immediately returned to her purgatorial existence. Not that he was anticipating death for either of them, but he could, at the very least, keep her safe if her only tether was to him. "And I'm not negotiating this one. We're tackling your problem first, then we'll handle mine. Especially since mine seems to be at the, for lack of a better term, root of the issue. If that's the case, I want to get you taken care of first in case something happens to me. We can always try again on the next loop-" Pandora shot him a look. "Okay, one or two more loops, if need be. But losing you would render this whole thing meaningless. So, we're going to free you first." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

Ruby lips pressed together and shifted from side to side in annoyance as she stared at him with piercing eyes and a kind of disobedience to her stature till she wilted mildly under his words and the feelings she felt coming off him. He really did want to protect her. Though why she didn't know. No one in ages or centuries or however long it had been had wanted to save her from anything. She closed her eyes and sighed, nodding and relenting to him and his insistence "Fine. But you are not allowed to leave me in a happy ever after. I go with you when we change your fate as well." she said in a rather firm way, given her soft tones. She touched his arm and gripped "Promise me that and we'll... go back to where it all started. In a dystopian world of monsters and machines." She sighed out and shook her head "Or perhaps where the pact was made?" She looked up at him with mild concern. "I don't know where to start or where my anchor could be. I know when my purgatory started if that helps. What we'll do when we get there, I don't know. I'm not even sure who we'll be, considering they'll be two versions of me." she pointed out with a bite to her lower lip and her ears back "Or will I just reset? Or will we be dreams watching memories?" She scrunched her face into a concerned and overly thoughtful look of confusion before putting her head abruptly into his chest and sighing a warm breath. She stayed there a moment before she said very quietly, "I... I don't want to go back there, Fyreth. I'm scared," @PhoggyΨυχη

"Fine, fine," he relented, waving a hand in the air and shifting back to his rather bulky draconic form. "Let's start wherever you're most comfortable. This isn't something we can rush. Well, we can, but we shouldn't." Fyreth's brow furrowed as he began to think about the undertaking they were about to go on. It would certainly be taxing, both mentally and physically. "I don't think there will be any resetting. I mean, I've never done this before, so I wouldn't really know. Maybe we could watch through the memories and then figure out the anchor from there so we don't have to go through the whole thing?" He was throwing things at the wall right now, unsure of what would even work. He kept hold of her hand, though his grip was much larger and enveloped more of her hand. "It'll be okay. I'll be with you the whole time. Just let me know if things get too much and we'll figure out what to do from there. There's no sense in fixing this situation if it ends with us far more broken than we started, okay?" @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

Her hand clutched his and she looked up at him as he reformed and relented. She reasoned with herself a moment as he explained that perhaps it was just about seeing the memories through and finding the root cause of her anchor. What kept her repeating the life of a martyr till madness. Biting into her lower lip she stared at him for a long while and sighed "I don't know why you want to help me," She looked down and adjusted her glasses. She wasn't used to kindness being returned or anyone caring about her plight. She was used to people using her, and he was doing the opposite. Clutching his hand a little tighter, though small as it was in his massive one, she looked back up and nodded "Okay. No rushing. We get out if it's too much. We start with where it... started for me I guess." She blinked a little and her petite form shook to the til of her tail and ears. "We'd have to go back to a land and time thats long gone. I don't know how" she shrugged a little "Is there a way from here? To access memories and places long dead?" She asked with a perk of her ears in interest. She clutched his hand tighter "And you promise I won't be alone?" She asked in a soft and somewhat scared tone that betrayed her easier nature. @PhoggyΨυχη

"I want to help you because I want to," he replied in a rather simple tone of voice. "I've long since dispensed with fancy reasonings or justifications." His eyes darted to Pandora for a moment, "certain people have shown me that there really is not much rhyme or reason in this world. So I do what I do because I want to do it. Or because Pandora asks really nicely or gets super annoying." "It's how I discovered my love of soap operas!" Pandora piped up, raising her hand with a bright smile. "I'm begging you: please do not engage her on that. We could have all the time in the universe and still not have enough time to listen to her talk about her soap operas," Fyreth groaned and let out a soft sigh. He had clearly made the mistake of indulging her before. "As for your questions: there are two ways I can thinking about getting there. The first is through our dreams. The second is to physically place ourselves in that moment of time. The benefit of the first is that we have the luxury of trial and error. The downside is that we will need to contend with your subconscious in its endeavor to avoid the memories." He paused and stretched his arms out. Fyreth rolled his shoulders, the scaled flesh on his body crinkling as he relaxed himself. "The second is more direct, but we only get one try in placing ourselves in the right place. I know a... type of chronomancy that could get us there, but it has a massive cool down." Instead of gripping her hand tighter, he pulled her into a deep hug. "As for the second part: you will not be alone. As we are bound by magic, I promise that I will also bind my soul and body to this endeavor of freeing you from your eternal bondage." His words were resolute; strong. There was no hint of wavering or fear as he made his promise to her. @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

She was trembling by the time he pulled her to him into a hug and had barely registered the remarks between him and Pandora. The idea of returning to her past was frightening, it caused her fur to stand on end and her skin to shiver as she leaned into the hug and finally pulled her arms around his waist with some restraints on how far she could reach. "And I promise to help you, to unbind you from these loops and gods," she vowed back as she pressed her face into his chest and breathed in the scent of safety for a moment, if just a moment. It was one she rarely got. Closing her eyes she listened to his heart and told herself he wasn't lying, that he'd be there, that this could work. She couldn't imagine a world in which she'd live a life she chose. She couldn't see it ahead of her in lights or anything of that nature but how she craved it deep down. So much so that her heart throbbed at the idea. She slowly peeked up at him through glasses that had slid down her nose a little, her soft eyes staring at him for a long moment "I think we should go back to the exact time. My subconscious was pretty... in the dark back then. I suppose the only things we'll have to watch for is me, the me you're holding, slipping into the same patterns as past me. But we could get there and if you guided me... away from Micheal... Then maybe, just maybe, I won't make that bargain." Biting her lip she sighed deeply and shook her head "Fyreth, I won't be the me that you know now. I'll be a foolish girl whose obsessed with love and romance. A doctor who throws herself to the wolves literally. You may get very frustrated... And I'd understand if that meant you had to leave me there to relive it all on whatever terms the silly younger me decides." She breathed in sharply. Though she'd nearly begged him not to leave her alone in this, she was realizing that it might be an impossible task that would drive him mad. And now she was giving him the open option for an out should pas

6:22 PM

t her and present her infused together was too stubborn to deal with. Remembering well how hard headed she'd been in her various pursuits. "So," her throat suddenly dry as she slightly pulled from him but not entirely "How do we start this spell of yours and can we eat something before hand? I'm.. oddly hungry." she admitted to him and looked around for some sort of fruit or bread Pandora might have out. @PhoggyΨυχη

He listened to her speak and stumble over her words, justifying an exit strategy for him in case things got difficult. Fyreth couldn't help but frown as she downplayed her own value. He knew this would be difficult; he was under no pretenses that this would be easy. That thought was furthered by Pandora's deductions playing out in his head. There were a few options that could be at the center of this, but they would need to get these anchors lifted before they could get there. "I'll fix ya up a Pandora Special!" Pandora squeaked with a bubbly voice. A chef's cap and apron appeared on her as she ran off into the ever-changing halls of three place. Fyreth had since turned away and was looking around the shelves, bare-knuckle climbing them this time. "It's just a grilled cheese," he said, not looking away. "The, uh, Pandora Special: it's just... a slice of cheese between bread." He reached back into a shelf and pulled out a thin, rectangular box. He hopped back down and started towards Darcina. He opened the box and pulled out what appeared to be a long, golden string. Was this foolish? Yes. Stupid? Also yes. Dumb? That too. He wordlessly took her rught hand in his and brought out her pinky. The dragon wrapped part of the string around it and then did the same to his own right punky, tying their fingers together. The string shined in a bright golden before fading away entirely. "A string from the Loom of Fate. Now we're inextricably tied together. I couldn't leave you even if I wanted to. Your successes is my successes and your failures are my failures. So, I'm not going anywhere, okay?" @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

The nekomata looked over and couldn't help the smile through the watery eyes she bore. Pandora was endearing and she wouldn't deny that. "Thank you," She said as she felt Fyreth pull away and a sudden chill hit her that she didn't realize was there. Her eyes followed him as he climb the shelves and spoke of spells while Pandora cooked for her in the other room. Their banter was endearing and she relished the small bit of calm before the storm that was her past came to them. She covered her lips and ducked her head at their back and forth, shaking her head "You're lucky to have her," spoken quietly before he approached. "I'm envious, if I'm being honest. My only constant is that I constantly die and never get the option to stay that way." She laughed a little and adjusted her glasses in that habitual way. It wasn't until he approached her with the golden string to take her small hand with more delicacy than one would think and began tying that she canted her head at what he was doing. When he explained and it was done before she could stop him, her mouth dropped open and more tears appeared in her eyes. Perhaps in the world of the waking, the world of the living, she had grown so used to people leaving or abandoning her for selfish means to an end, that she didn't have the energy anymore to convey emotions. Her easy nature though, dissolved the longer they were here. And as he tied his promise that could remain unbound, a tear slipped from her eye as she looked up at him. "You... You barely know me... You have no idea what you just did," she didn't sound mad or upset, just astonished. "I've... I've never even received a wedding band or promise ring and you just tied us together as though you were putting salt on a meal. As though it was nothing... Why?" She looked at him, took him in. The man was impressive. Massive, draconic, with a hint of humanism that made her melt and an empathy that made her shudder a moment as she suddenly wrapped her arms a

5:58 PM

round his neck in a tiptoe. "I promise the same, I'll help. However that means," She said softly before placing a delicate and gentle kiss under his jaw. The closest she could reach on her tiptoes before her head dropped to his chest and she openly wept silent tears. "You're foolish. Handsome, but foolish. I don't even know what to say or do in return," she mumbled against his chest, her glasses pressed into his skin, warm breath following every word. "I... I'm at a loss. But all the same... Thank you. Thank you so much, Fyreth, for seeing more then a sacrifice in me," slowly she canted her head up to show her dew lined face and swallowed slightly. Seeing him in a new light all of the sudden. @PhoggyΨυχη

"Lucky. Sure." He said with a sigh and a roll of his eyes. He was thankful for Pandora... at least now, though it had not always been that way. As for the goddess, it didn't take her long to return with the food for the catgirl. "Here ya go!" She handed Darcina the sandwich. "And thank you! He is lucky to have me," Pandora said. She did not seem to be shocked by the pact Fyreth made, either. "He tends t make pacts without thinking. Thus, me. Just kinda does what he wants. I think he's really a big softie... or he just can't resist us sexy women." Pandora shook her hips and winked at Darcina. He ignored her comments once again. "Well, I got you into this mess and now I'm asking you to do something incredibly difficult and painful, so I want you to know that you can rely on me through this. And I've told you before: you can live however you want to. I want to make sure you're free from this past of yours before we head into the real fight, so... it just made sense." Pandora had sat down and was watching the two go back and forth. "Hey! Why is it that when I kiss your cheek, you push me away?" "Because you're usually trying to butter me up for something or ask me for something," Fyreth replied. He kept an arm around Darcina and let her press herself against him. "I'm okay to leave whenever you are ready. I don't really know what we're in for, but, like I said, I'm in it for the long-haul now." @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄

Holding onto him as he spoke and Pandora approached, she laughed through her little tears and her fluffy tail curled around to wrap around Fyreth's calf in a possessive and caring way, mildly at least as Pandora gave her her meal and commented on the way he made promises. She laughed in a bell-like way and slowly removed her arms from around him, only to lean her side into his chest as though she needed him as a rock more than she'd realized before this moment. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was growing attached and the way she kept so close to him even as she ate and thanked Pandora for the sandwich. "It's delicious," she said between bites as her eyes move back and forth between the two. Just resting there against his massive chest, she finished her food and licked her lips "That was delicious Pandora, and it's good to know he likes my kisses," She gave a smile that made her blush as her eyes slid a little up to Fyreth and she narrowed them a bit to tease him, obviously "Oh so you do this with all the ladies you bring back here. Good to know I'm not special." She gave him the wickedest of smirks before sighing and suddenly laughing. "I still think you're a fool. A sweet fool but a fool all the same. But we're in it now, hmm?" she stared up at him with sweet and caring eyes "Remember what I said, I won't be the person you've come to know. I'll be a younger me, a me before millenias of life taught me better." She bit into her lower lip and closed her eyes. "Let's go, before I lose my nerve. I'm sorry now for anything I do to make this hard. I don't think I'll be able to help myself." As though on cue, a portal in the far corner opened up, waiting for them to pass through. Darcina slipped her hand into his and ran fingers over his palm before encasing it with her tiny one and walking forward toward it. She looked back only once before entering and looking sad, said to him "Thank you. Even if I forget and this goes top side... I won't fo

3:21 PM

rget that you tried to help. Even if I do." She laughed a little and then pulled them forward without looking back at him. Like if she did, he would disappear like a Greek myth. @PhoggyΨυχη

The absurdity of the situation was not lost on him. He had not imagined that this was how it would work. Of course, he was in uncharted territory; he'd never used magic such as this before but... It made sense. While he could indeed travel across planes and worlds, he needed to have an idea of where he was going as well as ample time to secure an anchor. In this case, he has no idea when or where he would be and his only anchor was the woman whose body he was now sharing. Or, rather, mind. He could see and hear and feel everything she did. The question was: could he communicate with her. Darcina! He called out into the recesses of her mind, hoping that she would be able to hear him. He was not sure she would even know who or what he was, but he was being forced to play the role of mental Jiminy Cricket with her, so he'd do his damnedest. @🎄A Magpie in a pear tree🎄