I am confused

Curse Mark? I barely even knew him! (THEY/THEM) ALSO HAHA- I SUCCESSFULLY TRICKED THE GNOME INTO GIVING ME THE POTION OF THROW UP! main blog: @the-thing-of-worms

[confused-sorcerer]

BREAKING NEWS - WORLD RENOWNED CONMAN SLAUGHTERED!

[flirtyambiguouswizard]

Do you still wizard RP at all? I haven't done it in ages

- @confused-sorcerer

Ah I'd like to get back at it but I haven't managed yet

[confused-sorcerer]

That's fair, same here! If you ever want to RP together lmk!

[flirtyambiguouswizard]

Yes! Yayy! As usual I'm not really creative so coming up with scenarios isn't my forte

[confused-sorcerer]

I had an idea for a really fun RP but I forgot it but when I remember it I'll let you know :3

[flirtyambiguouswizard]

Do you still wizard RP at all? I haven't done it in ages

- @confused-sorcerer

Ah I'd like to get back at it but I haven't managed yet

[confused-sorcerer]

That's fair, same here! If you ever want to RP together lmk!

[violenceenthusiast]

what about a shapeshifter who’s bad at it. shapeshifter who can never quite get the nose right. shapeshifter who always makes flipped faces because they’re doing adjustments in the mirror. shapeshifter with same face syndrome. shapeshifter who always dips further into the uncanny valley than they want. shapeshifter who can mimic a single celebrity completely perfectly but struggles to recreate anyone else.

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[and-spoken-for]

Its tail jabs them, and involuntarily, they go limp. All fear leaves them. Suddenly the pain of being stabbed, and the grip of its claws becomes not bad. It doesn't leave, but it's just another sense. Mildly euphoric. The desperation of needing air leaves. They don't even breathe unless they consciously do it.

The person comes forward, and gets knocked down and jabbed, too, but the creature lets them get up and put the filter to Cy's nose.

"Breathe. It takes thought."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches their friend and the creature with a placid look in their eyes, making the conscious decision to breathe, they whisper to their friend, their voice has no malice* I'll kill them.

[and-spoken-for]

"No need."

The person straps the filter to their face, and goes to the beast, wrapping their arms around it.

"No need for this. I will come with you." They create a burst of light, and teleport away, leaving Cy alone.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to grab them but their body isn't used to the venom* how do I leave? Hey wait no no-

*when they realize that their friend is gone they try moving forward, looking for anything*

[and-spoken-for]

The world is barren. Fumes rise from cracks in rocks. It smells burnt. The temperature is never comfortable. It is hot and cold in flashes. Their vision deteriorates quickly at the chemicals in the air.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys body is trying to adapt but it is challenged by just how much it's shifted and also the drugs in its system, Cy lies on the ground, focusing on breathing but also on adapting*

[and-spoken-for]

Hours later, Cy cannot tell how many, the person returns. They are covered in blood, goop, and other slimy fluids. Their arms up to their shoulders are shriveled. They grip Cy's foreleg, and with a blinding, burning, freezing explosion they are both transported to a place in the rocks, but it seems to be earth. They can breathe. The person does not seem to take note of their weakness, and using a damaging amount of adrenaline, probably, carries Cy up to a cave. At the back of the cave, they open a hidden door, and enter a house hewn into the stone, lit by crystal.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy squeezes their shoulder, careful their claws do not damage the skin but trying to apply a reassuring pressure, cys voice is a whisper* you need to rest.

[and-spoken-for]

"I will. You must, as well."

They run a warm bath inside of a bathroom lit by candles, and clean themself of the goop and mess all over them, putting on a simpler, but prettier black robe and loose trousers with a crystalline fringe. It pulses with the same energy. They clean you with a gentle soap that smells like citrus, and then offer you an outfit of the same design.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy nods when they offer the outfit, trying to help them put it on, they're a little bit better at moving* Are you okay?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes. You will be, as well. Let us dine."

They help Cy into a padded chair, at the head of a long table of petrified wood. Torches cast a warm glow, and crystal magnifies it. The person starts to cook over a fireplace at the other end of the room.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys head lulls to the side, their exhaustion is clear but they do not close their eyes, instead watching you and focusing on breathing*

[and-spoken-for]

Their breathing is already better, though they can't tell if it is recovery or habit. Soon, the person brings over two bowls of roasted vegetables.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they look at the food then to you* I'm sorry you had to do all this...

[and-spoken-for]

"What a silly apology."

They set the bowl down in front of Cy.

"Do you need help eating?"

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to nod but their head just thunks into their chest*

Yes please...

[and-spoken-for]

They help Cy drink something that tastes like amaranth, and it makes their limbs tingle. The person helps them eat, which they have no trouble doing after a few minutes.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys muscles twitch and squirm some, they try to take the spoon from you to eat* I feel like my whole bodies on pins and needles...

[and-spoken-for]

"I was like that the first time. The drink I gave you will help with movement, it just takes a minute."

They allow Cy to take the spoon, and soon they are able to use it. The vegetables are well-spiced and the perfect texture. The person eats their own food, keeping an eye on Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy is hunched over the bowl to keep from spilling*

Thank you... You don't seem okay..

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[and-spoken-for]

Its tail jabs them, and involuntarily, they go limp. All fear leaves them. Suddenly the pain of being stabbed, and the grip of its claws becomes not bad. It doesn't leave, but it's just another sense. Mildly euphoric. The desperation of needing air leaves. They don't even breathe unless they consciously do it.

The person comes forward, and gets knocked down and jabbed, too, but the creature lets them get up and put the filter to Cy's nose.

"Breathe. It takes thought."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches their friend and the creature with a placid look in their eyes, making the conscious decision to breathe, they whisper to their friend, their voice has no malice* I'll kill them.

[and-spoken-for]

"No need."

The person straps the filter to their face, and goes to the beast, wrapping their arms around it.

"No need for this. I will come with you." They create a burst of light, and teleport away, leaving Cy alone.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to grab them but their body isn't used to the venom* how do I leave? Hey wait no no-

*when they realize that their friend is gone they try moving forward, looking for anything*

[and-spoken-for]

The world is barren. Fumes rise from cracks in rocks. It smells burnt. The temperature is never comfortable. It is hot and cold in flashes. Their vision deteriorates quickly at the chemicals in the air.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys body is trying to adapt but it is challenged by just how much it's shifted and also the drugs in its system, Cy lies on the ground, focusing on breathing but also on adapting*

[and-spoken-for]

Hours later, Cy cannot tell how many, the person returns. They are covered in blood, goop, and other slimy fluids. Their arms up to their shoulders are shriveled. They grip Cy's foreleg, and with a blinding, burning, freezing explosion they are both transported to a place in the rocks, but it seems to be earth. They can breathe. The person does not seem to take note of their weakness, and using a damaging amount of adrenaline, probably, carries Cy up to a cave. At the back of the cave, they open a hidden door, and enter a house hewn into the stone, lit by crystal.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy squeezes their shoulder, careful their claws do not damage the skin but trying to apply a reassuring pressure, cys voice is a whisper* you need to rest.

[and-spoken-for]

"I will. You must, as well."

They run a warm bath inside of a bathroom lit by candles, and clean themself of the goop and mess all over them, putting on a simpler, but prettier black robe and loose trousers with a crystalline fringe. It pulses with the same energy. They clean you with a gentle soap that smells like citrus, and then offer you an outfit of the same design.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy nods when they offer the outfit, trying to help them put it on, they're a little bit better at moving* Are you okay?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes. You will be, as well. Let us dine."

They help Cy into a padded chair, at the head of a long table of petrified wood. Torches cast a warm glow, and crystal magnifies it. The person starts to cook over a fireplace at the other end of the room.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys head lulls to the side, their exhaustion is clear but they do not close their eyes, instead watching you and focusing on breathing*

[and-spoken-for]

Their breathing is already better, though they can't tell if it is recovery or habit. Soon, the person brings over two bowls of roasted vegetables.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they look at the food then to you* I'm sorry you had to do all this...

[and-spoken-for]

"What a silly apology."

They set the bowl down in front of Cy.

"Do you need help eating?"

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to nod but their head just thunks into their chest*

Yes please...

[and-spoken-for]

They help Cy drink something that tastes like amaranth, and it makes their limbs tingle. The person helps them eat, which they have no trouble doing after a few minutes.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys muscles twitch and squirm some, they try to take the spoon from you to eat* I feel like my whole bodies on pins and needles...

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[and-spoken-for]

Its tail jabs them, and involuntarily, they go limp. All fear leaves them. Suddenly the pain of being stabbed, and the grip of its claws becomes not bad. It doesn't leave, but it's just another sense. Mildly euphoric. The desperation of needing air leaves. They don't even breathe unless they consciously do it.

The person comes forward, and gets knocked down and jabbed, too, but the creature lets them get up and put the filter to Cy's nose.

"Breathe. It takes thought."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches their friend and the creature with a placid look in their eyes, making the conscious decision to breathe, they whisper to their friend, their voice has no malice* I'll kill them.

[and-spoken-for]

"No need."

The person straps the filter to their face, and goes to the beast, wrapping their arms around it.

"No need for this. I will come with you." They create a burst of light, and teleport away, leaving Cy alone.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to grab them but their body isn't used to the venom* how do I leave? Hey wait no no-

*when they realize that their friend is gone they try moving forward, looking for anything*

[and-spoken-for]

The world is barren. Fumes rise from cracks in rocks. It smells burnt. The temperature is never comfortable. It is hot and cold in flashes. Their vision deteriorates quickly at the chemicals in the air.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys body is trying to adapt but it is challenged by just how much it's shifted and also the drugs in its system, Cy lies on the ground, focusing on breathing but also on adapting*

[and-spoken-for]

Hours later, Cy cannot tell how many, the person returns. They are covered in blood, goop, and other slimy fluids. Their arms up to their shoulders are shriveled. They grip Cy's foreleg, and with a blinding, burning, freezing explosion they are both transported to a place in the rocks, but it seems to be earth. They can breathe. The person does not seem to take note of their weakness, and using a damaging amount of adrenaline, probably, carries Cy up to a cave. At the back of the cave, they open a hidden door, and enter a house hewn into the stone, lit by crystal.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy squeezes their shoulder, careful their claws do not damage the skin but trying to apply a reassuring pressure, cys voice is a whisper* you need to rest.

[and-spoken-for]

"I will. You must, as well."

They run a warm bath inside of a bathroom lit by candles, and clean themself of the goop and mess all over them, putting on a simpler, but prettier black robe and loose trousers with a crystalline fringe. It pulses with the same energy. They clean you with a gentle soap that smells like citrus, and then offer you an outfit of the same design.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy nods when they offer the outfit, trying to help them put it on, they're a little bit better at moving* Are you okay?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes. You will be, as well. Let us dine."

They help Cy into a padded chair, at the head of a long table of petrified wood. Torches cast a warm glow, and crystal magnifies it. The person starts to cook over a fireplace at the other end of the room.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys head lulls to the side, their exhaustion is clear but they do not close their eyes, instead watching you and focusing on breathing*

[and-spoken-for]

Their breathing is already better, though they can't tell if it is recovery or habit. Soon, the person brings over two bowls of roasted vegetables.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they look at the food then to you* I'm sorry you had to do all this...

[and-spoken-for]

"What a silly apology."

They set the bowl down in front of Cy.

"Do you need help eating?"

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to nod but their head just thunks into their chest*

Yes please...

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[and-spoken-for]

Its tail jabs them, and involuntarily, they go limp. All fear leaves them. Suddenly the pain of being stabbed, and the grip of its claws becomes not bad. It doesn't leave, but it's just another sense. Mildly euphoric. The desperation of needing air leaves. They don't even breathe unless they consciously do it.

The person comes forward, and gets knocked down and jabbed, too, but the creature lets them get up and put the filter to Cy's nose.

"Breathe. It takes thought."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches their friend and the creature with a placid look in their eyes, making the conscious decision to breathe, they whisper to their friend, their voice has no malice* I'll kill them.

[and-spoken-for]

"No need."

The person straps the filter to their face, and goes to the beast, wrapping their arms around it.

"No need for this. I will come with you." They create a burst of light, and teleport away, leaving Cy alone.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to grab them but their body isn't used to the venom* how do I leave? Hey wait no no-

*when they realize that their friend is gone they try moving forward, looking for anything*

[and-spoken-for]

The world is barren. Fumes rise from cracks in rocks. It smells burnt. The temperature is never comfortable. It is hot and cold in flashes. Their vision deteriorates quickly at the chemicals in the air.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys body is trying to adapt but it is challenged by just how much it's shifted and also the drugs in its system, Cy lies on the ground, focusing on breathing but also on adapting*

[and-spoken-for]

Hours later, Cy cannot tell how many, the person returns. They are covered in blood, goop, and other slimy fluids. Their arms up to their shoulders are shriveled. They grip Cy's foreleg, and with a blinding, burning, freezing explosion they are both transported to a place in the rocks, but it seems to be earth. They can breathe. The person does not seem to take note of their weakness, and using a damaging amount of adrenaline, probably, carries Cy up to a cave. At the back of the cave, they open a hidden door, and enter a house hewn into the stone, lit by crystal.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy squeezes their shoulder, careful their claws do not damage the skin but trying to apply a reassuring pressure, cys voice is a whisper* you need to rest.

[and-spoken-for]

"I will. You must, as well."

They run a warm bath inside of a bathroom lit by candles, and clean themself of the goop and mess all over them, putting on a simpler, but prettier black robe and loose trousers with a crystalline fringe. It pulses with the same energy. They clean you with a gentle soap that smells like citrus, and then offer you an outfit of the same design.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy nods when they offer the outfit, trying to help them put it on, they're a little bit better at moving* Are you okay?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes. You will be, as well. Let us dine."

They help Cy into a padded chair, at the head of a long table of petrified wood. Torches cast a warm glow, and crystal magnifies it. The person starts to cook over a fireplace at the other end of the room.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys head lulls to the side, their exhaustion is clear but they do not close their eyes, instead watching you and focusing on breathing*

[and-spoken-for]

Their breathing is already better, though they can't tell if it is recovery or habit. Soon, the person brings over two bowls of roasted vegetables.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they look at the food then to you* I'm sorry you had to do all this...

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[and-spoken-for]

Its tail jabs them, and involuntarily, they go limp. All fear leaves them. Suddenly the pain of being stabbed, and the grip of its claws becomes not bad. It doesn't leave, but it's just another sense. Mildly euphoric. The desperation of needing air leaves. They don't even breathe unless they consciously do it.

The person comes forward, and gets knocked down and jabbed, too, but the creature lets them get up and put the filter to Cy's nose.

"Breathe. It takes thought."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches their friend and the creature with a placid look in their eyes, making the conscious decision to breathe, they whisper to their friend, their voice has no malice* I'll kill them.

[and-spoken-for]

"No need."

The person straps the filter to their face, and goes to the beast, wrapping their arms around it.

"No need for this. I will come with you." They create a burst of light, and teleport away, leaving Cy alone.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to grab them but their body isn't used to the venom* how do I leave? Hey wait no no-

*when they realize that their friend is gone they try moving forward, looking for anything*

[and-spoken-for]

The world is barren. Fumes rise from cracks in rocks. It smells burnt. The temperature is never comfortable. It is hot and cold in flashes. Their vision deteriorates quickly at the chemicals in the air.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys body is trying to adapt but it is challenged by just how much it's shifted and also the drugs in its system, Cy lies on the ground, focusing on breathing but also on adapting*

[and-spoken-for]

Hours later, Cy cannot tell how many, the person returns. They are covered in blood, goop, and other slimy fluids. Their arms up to their shoulders are shriveled. They grip Cy's foreleg, and with a blinding, burning, freezing explosion they are both transported to a place in the rocks, but it seems to be earth. They can breathe. The person does not seem to take note of their weakness, and using a damaging amount of adrenaline, probably, carries Cy up to a cave. At the back of the cave, they open a hidden door, and enter a house hewn into the stone, lit by crystal.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy squeezes their shoulder, careful their claws do not damage the skin but trying to apply a reassuring pressure, cys voice is a whisper* you need to rest.

[and-spoken-for]

"I will. You must, as well."

They run a warm bath inside of a bathroom lit by candles, and clean themself of the goop and mess all over them, putting on a simpler, but prettier black robe and loose trousers with a crystalline fringe. It pulses with the same energy. They clean you with a gentle soap that smells like citrus, and then offer you an outfit of the same design.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy nods when they offer the outfit, trying to help them put it on, they're a little bit better at moving* Are you okay?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes. You will be, as well. Let us dine."

They help Cy into a padded chair, at the head of a long table of petrified wood. Torches cast a warm glow, and crystal magnifies it. The person starts to cook over a fireplace at the other end of the room.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys head lulls to the side, their exhaustion is clear but they do not close their eyes, instead watching you and focusing on breathing*

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[and-spoken-for]

Its tail jabs them, and involuntarily, they go limp. All fear leaves them. Suddenly the pain of being stabbed, and the grip of its claws becomes not bad. It doesn't leave, but it's just another sense. Mildly euphoric. The desperation of needing air leaves. They don't even breathe unless they consciously do it.

The person comes forward, and gets knocked down and jabbed, too, but the creature lets them get up and put the filter to Cy's nose.

"Breathe. It takes thought."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches their friend and the creature with a placid look in their eyes, making the conscious decision to breathe, they whisper to their friend, their voice has no malice* I'll kill them.

[and-spoken-for]

"No need."

The person straps the filter to their face, and goes to the beast, wrapping their arms around it.

"No need for this. I will come with you." They create a burst of light, and teleport away, leaving Cy alone.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to grab them but their body isn't used to the venom* how do I leave? Hey wait no no-

*when they realize that their friend is gone they try moving forward, looking for anything*

[and-spoken-for]

The world is barren. Fumes rise from cracks in rocks. It smells burnt. The temperature is never comfortable. It is hot and cold in flashes. Their vision deteriorates quickly at the chemicals in the air.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys body is trying to adapt but it is challenged by just how much it's shifted and also the drugs in its system, Cy lies on the ground, focusing on breathing but also on adapting*

[and-spoken-for]

Hours later, Cy cannot tell how many, the person returns. They are covered in blood, goop, and other slimy fluids. Their arms up to their shoulders are shriveled. They grip Cy's foreleg, and with a blinding, burning, freezing explosion they are both transported to a place in the rocks, but it seems to be earth. They can breathe. The person does not seem to take note of their weakness, and using a damaging amount of adrenaline, probably, carries Cy up to a cave. At the back of the cave, they open a hidden door, and enter a house hewn into the stone, lit by crystal.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy squeezes their shoulder, careful their claws do not damage the skin but trying to apply a reassuring pressure, cys voice is a whisper* you need to rest.

[and-spoken-for]

"I will. You must, as well."

They run a warm bath inside of a bathroom lit by candles, and clean themself of the goop and mess all over them, putting on a simpler, but prettier black robe and loose trousers with a crystalline fringe. It pulses with the same energy. They clean you with a gentle soap that smells like citrus, and then offer you an outfit of the same design.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy nods when they offer the outfit, trying to help them put it on, they're a little bit better at moving* Are you okay?

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[and-spoken-for]

Its tail jabs them, and involuntarily, they go limp. All fear leaves them. Suddenly the pain of being stabbed, and the grip of its claws becomes not bad. It doesn't leave, but it's just another sense. Mildly euphoric. The desperation of needing air leaves. They don't even breathe unless they consciously do it.

The person comes forward, and gets knocked down and jabbed, too, but the creature lets them get up and put the filter to Cy's nose.

"Breathe. It takes thought."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches their friend and the creature with a placid look in their eyes, making the conscious decision to breathe, they whisper to their friend, their voice has no malice* I'll kill them.

[and-spoken-for]

"No need."

The person straps the filter to their face, and goes to the beast, wrapping their arms around it.

"No need for this. I will come with you." They create a burst of light, and teleport away, leaving Cy alone.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to grab them but their body isn't used to the venom* how do I leave? Hey wait no no-

*when they realize that their friend is gone they try moving forward, looking for anything*

[and-spoken-for]

The world is barren. Fumes rise from cracks in rocks. It smells burnt. The temperature is never comfortable. It is hot and cold in flashes. Their vision deteriorates quickly at the chemicals in the air.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys body is trying to adapt but it is challenged by just how much it's shifted and also the drugs in its system, Cy lies on the ground, focusing on breathing but also on adapting*

[and-spoken-for]

Hours later, Cy cannot tell how many, the person returns. They are covered in blood, goop, and other slimy fluids. Their arms up to their shoulders are shriveled. They grip Cy's foreleg, and with a blinding, burning, freezing explosion they are both transported to a place in the rocks, but it seems to be earth. They can breathe. The person does not seem to take note of their weakness, and using a damaging amount of adrenaline, probably, carries Cy up to a cave. At the back of the cave, they open a hidden door, and enter a house hewn into the stone, lit by crystal.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy squeezes their shoulder, careful their claws do not damage the skin but trying to apply a reassuring pressure, cys voice is a whisper* you need to rest.

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[and-spoken-for]

Its tail jabs them, and involuntarily, they go limp. All fear leaves them. Suddenly the pain of being stabbed, and the grip of its claws becomes not bad. It doesn't leave, but it's just another sense. Mildly euphoric. The desperation of needing air leaves. They don't even breathe unless they consciously do it.

The person comes forward, and gets knocked down and jabbed, too, but the creature lets them get up and put the filter to Cy's nose.

"Breathe. It takes thought."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches their friend and the creature with a placid look in their eyes, making the conscious decision to breathe, they whisper to their friend, their voice has no malice* I'll kill them.

[and-spoken-for]

"No need."

The person straps the filter to their face, and goes to the beast, wrapping their arms around it.

"No need for this. I will come with you." They create a burst of light, and teleport away, leaving Cy alone.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to grab them but their body isn't used to the venom* how do I leave? Hey wait no no-

*when they realize that their friend is gone they try moving forward, looking for anything*

[and-spoken-for]

The world is barren. Fumes rise from cracks in rocks. It smells burnt. The temperature is never comfortable. It is hot and cold in flashes. Their vision deteriorates quickly at the chemicals in the air.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cys body is trying to adapt but it is challenged by just how much it's shifted and also the drugs in its system, Cy lies on the ground, focusing on breathing but also on adapting*

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[and-spoken-for]

Its tail jabs them, and involuntarily, they go limp. All fear leaves them. Suddenly the pain of being stabbed, and the grip of its claws becomes not bad. It doesn't leave, but it's just another sense. Mildly euphoric. The desperation of needing air leaves. They don't even breathe unless they consciously do it.

The person comes forward, and gets knocked down and jabbed, too, but the creature lets them get up and put the filter to Cy's nose.

"Breathe. It takes thought."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches their friend and the creature with a placid look in their eyes, making the conscious decision to breathe, they whisper to their friend, their voice has no malice* I'll kill them.

[and-spoken-for]

"No need."

The person straps the filter to their face, and goes to the beast, wrapping their arms around it.

"No need for this. I will come with you." They create a burst of light, and teleport away, leaving Cy alone.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy tries to grab them but their body isn't used to the venom* how do I leave? Hey wait no no-

*when they realize that their friend is gone they try moving forward, looking for anything*

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[and-spoken-for]

Its tail jabs them, and involuntarily, they go limp. All fear leaves them. Suddenly the pain of being stabbed, and the grip of its claws becomes not bad. It doesn't leave, but it's just another sense. Mildly euphoric. The desperation of needing air leaves. They don't even breathe unless they consciously do it.

The person comes forward, and gets knocked down and jabbed, too, but the creature lets them get up and put the filter to Cy's nose.

"Breathe. It takes thought."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches their friend and the creature with a placid look in their eyes, making the conscious decision to breathe, they whisper to their friend, their voice has no malice* I'll kill them.

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[and-spoken-for]

They shake themself to their senses and Cy loses the pain so suddenly that the relief is almost as bad. The person grips them, an arm under their arm and around their chest. They growl, trying to jerk free of the line, as the face of the beast becomes visible. They can't get free. They slam into it, and with some sort of explosion all three of them land in some world of stone. The person quickly hands something to Cy, it looks like a shell, and they can breathe through it.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy immediately goes to tackle the creature, their form has shifted rapidly again but the fear response has solidified them into a beast like form, red fur covers their body and their teeth are sharp, they have sharp claws and despite being unable to breathe they are trying to gore the snake creature*

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.

[and-spoken-for]

The person touches their armband to the crystal, and with an agonizing lurch, the world around Cy starts to sway. Just before they disappear, the beast pounces, trying to jerk the person away from the crystal, but it is just too late. Its claws are sharper than it means them to be, and marks are left over their throat and chest, blood spurting into the void. They curl partially, and crystal growths bulge from the wounds, staunching and slowly turning into withered, but usable flesh. They are limp, dragged along by an angrily buzzing line. They are ensnared in some sort of chaos, vibrating and twisting about uncontrollably. The pain comes again and the person does not seem to have the strength to take it away from Cy.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy holds them tightly, making a inhumane scream when the pain takes hold but still trying their best to hold you tight, they scream something that sounds like reassurance to you but it's too loud to be heard*

[confused-sorcerer]

Cy becomes aware of a person watching them from a shadowed corner beneath the cloth awning of a fabric shop. They do not seem malicious, but have an unsettling look about them nonetheless. They wear a red suit top and black trousers, a heavy leather satchel over one shoulder, and no expression at all. If anything, they have a rather dazed look about them. Brown, wavy hair rests around their shoulders, when it moves in the breeze, it only highlights how nearly motionless they stand.

*the person you see continues walking along their designated path, they have black hair and dark eyes along with a scruffy beard, when they pass you their eyes cut to you ever so briefly, and for a second you think you see the colors shift*

[and-spoken-for]

It looks offended. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and besides, what do you think I am teaching them?"

But the land is full of crystals. Whole growths turned to glittering mass. This wasn't done in a day. The person clearly has come often, and knows yet next to nothing. If the creature has been teaching them of these things, it is not in the direction that Cy would approve of.

[confused-sorcerer]

.... I think it's time we take our leave. *They grab their friends hand, pulling them away slightly*

[and-spoken-for]

"Let's go and visit the ants now!" They say brightly, and come along, then start down another path. The creature does not look pleased, but goes back into its burrow to steep again in its mire.

[confused-sorcerer]

Yes, let's. *Cy is holding firmly on your arm, not enough to hurt if course but their grip almost feels protective*

[and-spoken-for]

They gaze at Cy for a moment as if trying to discern the disturbance and the cause of it, and then continue on. If they know, they do not say so. Not here. Soon, they come across more of the spongy ground.

"Break up your rhythm again. We are in anteater territory."

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy begins moving a-rhythmically, their feet are still duck-like and they still have their snout*

Are we teleporting again or is the next area we are interested in on this world?

[and-spoken-for]

"It is still in this world. The ants are here. The Beast does not come this way, the ants are of great danger and little interest to it."

Presently they come upon a trail of ants, streaming back and forth, carrying parcels of some sort of sap.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy watches, interested for a moment but then turning back to you* are we out of the territory of that creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Yes." They go again toward the trail of ants and walk alongside them.

[confused-sorcerer]

*cy stops them again* they can't somehow hear us or read your mind can they?

[and-spoken-for]

"The only one with access to my mind is Master, and Creature does not hear all that well."

They let themself be stopped; they are very pliable to touch in their behavior.

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy stares at them kind of oddly*

I think you need to stay away from that thing

[and-spoken-for]

"I have heard that many people of the world you are from hold a bias against things with the appearance of serpents."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy points at themself, their face still animalistic, you recall how much they shape shift and also their nearly squalid conditions in a shack with no amenities*

People hold bias against me too, that's not why I say what I do. That creature seems to want something from you, and you don't seem yourself as much when you're there. I'm worried they're doing something to you.

[and-spoken-for]

They meet Cy's gaze for a while, and then purse their lips.

"Beast gives me a suppressant, it calls it. Medicinal venom. The first time I came, the mire and the smell burned my senses, and there was a nameless dread lurking in the caves that had me shaking too much to teleport away, and I could not even run. Beast stung me, and all of that faded so that I could bear it. I hardly smell it, now."

[confused-sorcerer]

Do you remember your subsequent visits to the cave? Can you tell me in detail what you've retrieved for your master from the serpent?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only carcasses. That is all. I remember them; when I began to sense the Dread again, it would give me more of the medicine. We have had many long walks and talks since then."

[confused-sorcerer]

What did you talk about?

[and-spoken-for]

"My origin, my sort of being, and the nature of ecosystems. It was fascinated by some of ours and had me speak of them in great detail, and offered help in acquiring more bodies for our study and use."

[confused-sorcerer]

Mhm. How long did these visits last? Do you know the precise time?

[and-spoken-for]

"An hour if I only visited for the bodies, up to four days if we were walking."

[confused-sorcerer]

Isn't that a lot? Don't you get tired? What's the condition of your body after those 4 days? Where are you walking to?

[and-spoken-for]

"We explore the land here. Looking at the arrivals, studying all of the dynamics. It allows me rest; I know to rest at least several hours every cycle. My body is better than ever afterwards. Usually, any aches I had before are gone."

[confused-sorcerer]

... *Cy is watching their friends body language, as well as making sure to keep their tone calm and only revealing a slight level of concern* How long have you been coming here and visiting the creature?

[and-spoken-for]

"Only thirty years, by your world's reckoning."

They do not seem disturbed, watching Cy more than they are being watched, themself. Though it doesn't seem they make conclusions of what they do notice.

[confused-sorcerer]

30 years.... That's not, that's not normal. You've been doing this for 30 years, spending days at a time alone with this serpent while it injects you with drugs to keep you calm?? Fear is a response we have to environmental stimuli and is one of our most important emotions, you need fear, fear protects you than anyone else ever could. Does the serpent know what you're afraid of down there?

[and-spoken-for]

"It said that it was nothing. An effect of the mind's trickery."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy pinches their lips together* Are you sure it wasn't some instinctual fear of the creature itself? Also you mentioned being hurt by the air down there, but the creature fixing it, however when I went down there I wasn't hurt by the air, how would you explain that?

[and-spoken-for]

"I have no idea. I am glad that you were not heard. It is not that I do not still feel it. It feels the same, but it is as if it were a silly dislike that I have grown past. I do not mind it. And I have no reason to fear the creature which has been only kind to me, and I certainly didn't, then."

[confused-sorcerer]

You need to listen to your feelings. They have a reason, you need to find out why too.

[and-spoken-for]

"You make me want to leave before even visiting the ants."

[confused-sorcerer]

It may be safest...

[and-spoken-for]

They start back onto solid ground, and stand beside a large crystallized growth, offering their hand.

[confused-sorcerer]

*they take your hand*

[and-spoken-for]

"Hold as tightly as you will. This journey will not be as gentle as the last."

They raise their arm, to touch the armband to the crystal, but a voice sounds behind them and they falter.

"Leaving sssoo ssooonnn?We had hardly exxchanged pleasssantriesss."

[confused-sorcerer]

*Cy grabs your arm, pulling you close to them* Yep we are! Business calls and I'm a hitch hiker anyways, gotta get where I need to!

*Cy whispers to their friend* Go now.