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Post by Kidney on Apr 29, 2020 21:14:51 GMT -8
Semyon didn't move. His body was fixed upon the ground, a bleeding staple there, a few shards sticking from him like spines. He let out a grumble, finally, that sounded vaguely foreign, but not entirely out of the question for what he would be known to say. He did not stir though. The next noise came from above, and scrabbling sound, armor scraped against hard stone, the sound of mandibles crackling together.
The sound was as foreign as Aurora could fathom, and the voices abandoned her mind all at once, in one direction she felt her very soul pulled, a small tunnel just big enough to fit...maybe Semyon. She was smaller, so likely she could fit as well, though the coffin on the floor began to rattle, whatever was within, it was trying to get out. The fish did not move, but something within them did, a few suddenly split open, strange black worms from deep within them wriggling from beneath their scales or from their mouths or anuses.
Semyon still did not move.
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Post by rosallora on Apr 29, 2020 21:26:29 GMT -8
"Oh fuck me," she says. She looks directly upward, seeing nothing but stone. Whatever sound was there - maybe it wasn't. Another illusion. Another trick. She scowls at it, then turns the expression downwards, angling it at the sack of meat she'd been abusing since before they trekked down the side of the cliff.
She sits herself down on the bar, swinging back in order to try and pull the man up - only for her grip to slip on rust and water. She plummets downwards, landing on top of Semyon, and the glass. She shrieks at the needling pain piercing into her, no doubt drawing blood and FUCKING RUINING THE FINE SILK OF HER PERFORMER'S OUTFIT. She howls her rage, only to find that she has no breath left, all of it taken from her in the fall.
She swipes shards to the side in order to get a hand under her.
"I'd... thank you for the cushion. But I have a feeling... you're dead." She puts a foot down, righting herself. Her wig is askew. Aurora looks at the coffin, the wriggling black worms, and the situation that just seems to get bleaker.
"If you're a fucking monster, I'm gonna be pissed."
She grips the edge with bloodied gloves, and throws the lid open.
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Post by EloHim on Apr 29, 2020 22:04:35 GMT -8
...he did not remember much about how he ended up there. After the tremors everything went silent for a time, but then... Somehow, he ended up out of the ruins and in the forest he only saw from behind the bars. He was alone, he was tired...and he was hungry. He stumbled through the woods without direction, not knowing where to find help. Eventually he came upon the shores of some sea, or the ocean... and after finding himself some semi-dry cave he fell into an exhausted slumber.
When he woke up he was again in prison. In some sort of watery grave at the end of nowhere. Above him was the empty sky, below him was nothing but the endless deep. Was this death? Was this the Realm of Hades he only heard stories about? He tried to sing, as it was the only thing he could really do to comfort himself in his new fate...but no sound came from his lips.
The silence was broken by the sound of something numerous swimming by... And then whatever it was,came crashing forward. The sky and deep disappeared, and instead now he was in some sort of box...made from something strange...like a crystal? Gem? Was that the word? It was stifling in here, the small opening in the box was the only air he was currently getting.He tried to push against the walls but his muscles were too weak for even that... But then something...or someone else opens the lid. The blue dim light fills his eyes, as he takes a deep breath and grabs the edge of a coffin.
[Eved] The pale hand with sickly black veins all over grabs the edge of an opened coffin, and drags out a disheveled form of a malnourished, heavily breathing man. He looks in front of himself for a second then slowly turns his head around to look at who could possibly free him from the seemingly hopeless situation. His eyes come upon a woman...bloodied, with her hair looking very weird in the dim light. "...thank you?"- he says, a question in his voice, for he knew not if this whole thing was one huge accident or some dreadful design, through which he would be put in chains again.
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Post by Kidney on Apr 29, 2020 22:24:55 GMT -8
In the time it took Eved his mortal seconds to slowly pull himself from the coffin, Semyon was up, his body hurting, but soul not broken. He appeared behind Eved, knife out and looking straight up. "Troll." He said, solemn, accepting of his own death.
What pierced the great stony ceiling like skin was a single chitinous claw. Its girth was massive, and around where it broke through the skin-like 'rock' was a great bulge, weight held for a moment before a beast of terrible nature ripped forth from it like a parasite through the head of a zit. With a burst of saltwater and foam, the crab-like monster slammed to the floor a mere ten feet from the group. It's large claw dwarfed its other one, a small, dagger-sharp weapon of precise death-giving. Its frothy mandibles clapped together like clashing swords, and its legs tapped excitedly against the stone like a hound waiting to be leashed upon its prey. It stirred, scrabbling from side to side, giant blue-green eyes taking in the group's details.
The voices returned to Aurora. "You. You wake me from eternal slumber. For that, I thank you."
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Post by rosallora on Apr 30, 2020 7:54:43 GMT -8
Well he definitely wasn't hardy enough to kill her if he wanted to, so she's going to call that one a win. "Good, you're-" the voices return as she feels like she can triumph, and she knows that isn't good. Neither was the awful thing coming from the ceiling - and then the floor.
"How about- how about we don't. If you're really thankful, how about we just go?" She motions with her hands like she was really trying to suggest this. "We'll get out of your hair, maybe take a fish or two. We don't have to fight. You can have most of these-" she gestures to the fish "-besides, they're filled with..." she grimaces. "You know what forget it you can just have the fish. Enjoy them!" She grabs Semyon by the collar and starts walking backwards, shoes crackling over broken glass. She looks at the new man with an expression that screams Come On, Idiot.
"We'll just go!"
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Post by EloHim on Apr 30, 2020 8:34:19 GMT -8
[Eved] Giant crab. Ok, not Hades's realm, but Poseidon's for sure. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Maybe he should just close the lid and pretend to be still asleep. Then this giant thing wouldn't pay him any heed. No, that sounds stupid. The woman had the right idea. He scrambles out of the damn coffin and runs for his life. What other options did he have? Fighting giant crustaceans was madness! Fighting giant crustaceans with his bare hands? Even more madness! He did not want this, any of this!
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Post by Kidney on Apr 30, 2020 17:41:48 GMT -8
Semyon's body flew where Aurora dragged it, the bloodied and battered Rus following her movements, looking to her for disgruntled salvation. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, and the loss of blood clearly left him mostly defenseless. Thankfully, his belongings still were upon him, though his pack was slung on one shoulder, hanging half-precariously from his form.
The Crab's great claw smacked the ground as it scuttled forward, clawed appendages spearing the motionless fish beneath it as it drew closer to the three. Its mind was calculating which to attack first, but huddled together, it seemed as if two of its prey items had become one, and it clacked its mandibles together in frustration. Its form continued forward, scrabling towards the group again, growing closer, but keeping rightful distance. It was...herding them.
Its herding was towards a featureless wall, though to Aurora's left still remained the wet tunnel, closer than their original entrance. The tunnel was too small for The Crab, at least.
The voices spoke in Aurora's mind. "Ape. Come. The way out is clear. I have to only show you."
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Post by rosallora on May 1, 2020 7:49:52 GMT -8
She takes one step back, then another, dragging Semyon and watching as the other man, a damn coward, dashed out, stepping nimbly through and over the goo. Alright, a good sign. They could escape that way.
The performer was thinking about trying to play nice with the thing - try to make some sort of deal - but it was clear that it really wasn't in the mood. It says the word "ape" and her mind immediately switches over from any form of understanding to its usual, full-time-bitch. "Ape!" She spits back. She steps closer to where Eved had gone, slithering worms and shiny fish decorating the floor. "APE!"
She hauls Semyon's too-heavy body upwards, grasping him around the middle. She doesn't want to be responsible for the man's actual death, since he'd made it this far. Though he owed her. OH, HOW HE OWED HER. "You cracked and crawling thing, masturbatory-handed soft under-shelled crooked-eye-stalked putrid pus-smelling and worm-churning thing! An APE am I! A TRAGEDY are you!" She shoves Semyon down the passage. "RUN!"
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Post by EloHim on May 1, 2020 21:21:34 GMT -8
[Eved] The crab seemed keen on keeping them in one place. That was exactly what he was NOT going to do. He ignores his callings, writing a talking crab off as a morning hallucination. He tries to run as fast as he can to the tunnel, dodging past the crab... (i rolled an 11 so it all depends on how quick the crab is)
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Post by Kidney on May 1, 2020 22:04:32 GMT -8
Semyon, in a heap of delirious confusion and pain, slipped into the tunnel with a wet schlop sound, beginning his crawl deeper within on instinct alone, and the command of Aurora. Her voice carried down the tunnel itself, beyond the stout Rus, to the ears of something much stranger.
The Crab's eyes were locked on Eved, watching the man run towards the screaming Aurora. It scratched forward, skidding to a stop as the two reached each other, in its eyes becoming one strange creature. The Crab let out a strange screech, slamming its mighty claw before it, glass scattering around the room, its eyes staring into the very souls of Eved and Aurora. Though, not intentionally.
The voices entered Aurora's brain one final time. "Just get in the tunnel, crawl to me...human."
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Post by rosallora on May 2, 2020 8:11:39 GMT -8
Aurora doesn't know what's going on here. First it was stay here, then it was go. She glances over to the tunnel as Semyon starts to crawl his way through, and, desperate not to appease the weird voice, yells "SEMYON. JUST STOP. JUST TAKE A DAMN NAP." Everything was so confusing. She doesn't care much about the right decision anymore, just the one that was going to get them out of there alive. The world swirls for a moment until it comes in crisp and bright and smelling of salt and blood and black liquid and blue ooze and whateverelsethefuck this place was throwing at them.
Her eyes turn to Eved. "I got you out of that coffin and I swear to God I will put you back in there if you don't man the hell up and help me! Use your hands until your fingers are bloody little nubs, bite it to death, I don't care! DO IT! Do it or die here!"
Her eyes are as wild as the wig on her head, the khol around them starting to drip from a combination of seawater and sweat. Aurora takes the dagger in her grasp and leaps towards the crab, the tip of it digging uselessly into its shell. She keeps going anyway, rounding on it, knife scraping ineffectually across its chitinous back, and hopefully away from its claw.
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Post by EloHim on May 2, 2020 9:22:32 GMT -8
[Eved] Do Or Die. A slave-driver's call. Something from his past he chose to abandon behind. But now...the situation was...different. He could die here. Clawed in two by the giant crab. Maybe it was all a dream. Who gives a fuck. He moved in the same direction the woman was going, not knowing how the other man simply disappeared into the hole that seemed so small right now.
He gets a little headway moving faster than her, then plops on his legs,pushing his hand against one of the jagged rocks littering the cave's floor... giving way to the viscous black blood. He could not believe what he was going to ask of the woman right now. The memory of the flames against his skin so fresh...never getting out...like a nail pushed through his skull into his brain.
He pushes further, drawing a straight, thick line of his own blood. He prayed against all of his fear that it was gonna work... Else it would be all for naught and he really was going to die just after getting his freedom back. He didnt want to do this. He didnt want to do this at all...But he had to. That was the order.
Do. Or. Die.
"Your dagger! The black line, scrape it against the stone there! JUST ONE SPARK! DONT QUESTION IT, JUST DO IT IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, MALAKA."- he says planting his hand at the end of the bloody line. It would hurt. So much. He would scream. He would wish the world to just not be there anymore. For all of it to be gone, for him to be free... And then he woulndt feel a thing...until he wakes up again.
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Post by Kidney on May 3, 2020 11:22:18 GMT -8
The voices screamed in Aurora's mind like lightning bolt through her frontal lobe. "My patience wears THIN!" It yelled, filling her mind with a sense of great urgency and rage, her thread wrapped around this creature's the two minds becoming impossibly close, like sheets of paper. Her soul was...interfacing with something. Something great and angry, but...peaceable.
Semyon did not heed her words, ooze slick against his form, but instead moved faster, the screech of The Crab petrified him. He crawled forward at a snails pace, his hands and head smacking occasionally against the softened stone around him. He let out a grunt before he fell from the other side of the tunnel, landing hard against the stone, backpack protecting him from spine-breakage. He let out a wheezing breath, falling to his side. A voice spoke aloud. A...female one, accompanied by the sound of scales scraping against metal. "He-who-nearly-drowned...good, you've arrived."
--
The Crab unleashed another screech, scuttling closer to the two, and letting loose its smaller claw, to test where truly the enemies lay. The claw itself found little purchase asides from the side of Aurora, skin and fat cut, blood immediately flowing. The Crab let out a yip of excitement, raising its mighty claw slowly, meaning to smash the Jester where she stood...next turn.
Eved would find himself unharmed, aside from the cut on his hand. Though...a voice echoed in his mind. "You. Bring the girl. Into the tunnel."
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Post by rosallora on May 3, 2020 15:35:41 GMT -8
[Aurora]
She screams rage when the crab pierces her skin, ripping open the side of her silk clothing. She stumbles, knife scraping against the wall and producing nothing of use for Eved. Pale skin bleeds red, soaking quickly into the cloth. "Goddamn whore!" She braces herself against wet stone, looking down at the beautiful gem at her feet. She laughs, shrilly, hollowly, looking down at the thing that started all of this.
The jester nudges it up and flips up the shiny thing with her shoe, kicking it up and catching it with her free hand, the point gesturing towards the crab. "Go, you coward, if you won't fight! Whore's slimy afterbirth!"
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Post by EloHim on May 3, 2020 16:29:38 GMT -8
[Eved] Nothing. Fucking nothing. He looks at the woman that failed even in the most simplest of tasks. Like every other slave-driver - nothing on their own but a shrill voice and broken whip. No, he had enough of her. Enough of them all. He'll put it all to rest, and damn the consequences! "Why dont you shut the fuck up, you bleating goat! "- he rushes to Aurora, tearing the dagger from her hand, and kicking her with his leg. The bitch yelled too much, all talk and nothing to be done. And the crab did a shit job at shutting her up, so why the hell he shouldn't try to?
He runs back to a jagged rock smeared with his blood, planting his hand on it once more... "If you want something to be done... do it yourself. DINNER TIME!!!!"- he screams, voice filled with rage as the spark drops onto the black oozing blood. For a second his eyes filled with fear, that primal thing that was ingrained into him. But it was too late.
Ignition happened momentarily. His blood was always weak to the flames, especially when out of his veins. The pain enters his very mind as he burns alive, every inch of his body turning to a crisp. It all happens so fast but for him its an eternity of pain...before the darkness finally claims him.
But whilst the mind is half gone, the body transforms, grows bigger and bigger. Bones crack, break and shift. Charred, burning skin gets covered in fiery red hair that seems to move on its own, waving with the heat the body exudes. Human features erase themselves to make way for the beastly visage. Claws grow on the shifted paws.
A beastly roar and a wave of heat announces the completion of the transformation.
Eved is gone. Only Kallikantzaros remains. And. He. Is. Hungry.
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