"Heya, Scarlet here. I came up with the blog idea, and am the main one using it! I use they/she pronouns. I'm one half of the Dynamic Duo! You'll know it's me by the red text!"
"Hello, Dew here. While Scarlet conceived the blog, I'm the one working on it in the background. I use he/they pronouns. I'm a traveling mantis, and the other half of the Dynamic Duo. You can tell it's me through the green text."
(Hey, @bigminiond here! I'm the one running the blog. OoC text will be in curly brackets. The blog is about my interpretation of a grown Grimmchild, as well as my personal sona, Dew (in the header image).)
Rules:
NO EXPLICIT NSFW ASKS.
"Seriously, please don't."
"Just...ew. No."
(The most I will allow is suggestive jokes)
(This blog will contain spoilers for both Hollow Knight and Silksong. You have been warned!)
Don't expect quick answers from us.
"Due to how frequently we're on the move, it's highly likely our internet will cut out."
"Yeah, and it completely sucks!"
(I am in my final year of high school, plus I have IRL responsibilities.)
Asks about relationships are okay, as long as they're lighthearted.
"I always love some good gossip!"
"Just please don't take it too far…"
Other blogs are welcome to interact!
"Please! As fun as Dew can be, it gets so boring having only one person to talk to!"
"Is it really that bad...?"
(Interactions with other fandoms are welcome too!)
(Please don’t try to solve the problems of the plotlines for the characters.)
Tags (All of this will be OoC):
Tagging system inspired by @child-of-weaver-and-wyrm
[Junior's Shenanigans] -- Junior is the one interacting
[Scarlet's Rebellion] -- Scarlet is the one interacting
[Dew's Ramblings] -- Dew is the one interacting
[Chalybs’ Word] -- Chalybs is the one interacting
[Xadus' Thoughts] -- Xadus is the one interacting
[Dynamic Duo] -- Multiple people are interacting
[Junior...] -- Posts relating to Junior's memories
[Scarlet...] -- Posts relating to who Scarlet used to be
[Dew...] -- Posts relating to Dew's past
[What Happened in Moorlane] -- Posts relating to the incidents that happened in Moorlane
[Scarlet the Girlfailure] -- Posts where Scarlet tries (and fails) to flirt
[The City of Steel] -- Posts where Dew and/or Scarlet are in or talking about the City of Steel.
[what] -- For posts that just have no words
[The Banquet] -- Posts relating to Willoh’s Banquet
[OH GOD THE KING IS DEAD] -- Posts relating to the Pale King/Lurien/Radiance Debacle
[The Red Mist] -- Posts relating to Moss Grotto’s red mist
[Bleeding Roots] -- Blooming Beast of Root's Nosk Arc
[Burning Bridges] -- Posts relating to the Nightmare Heart conflict
[Curse of the Dream] -- Posts relating to the ???
[War of the Citadel] -- Posts relating to the Crust King's siege on the Citadel
[Hunt Down the Sentinel] -- Posts relating to Dew hunting down Trinn
[Spa Arc Come Home] -- Posts relating to the Spa Arc
[The Lost King] -- Posts relating to the Lost King Arc
[Light of My Life] -- Posts relating to ------- --- ----- -------- ------
[Thinking Out Loud] -- A drabble
[Sparring Match] -- Posts involving combat
[Hooded Figures] -- Answering anon asks
[Hey I Know You!] -- Interacting with other rp blogs
[Timeline Fuckery] -- Posts where the timeline is not linear
[Other People] -- Interacting with non-anon, non-rp blogs
[Now Playing.]
Grimm finds himself on a floor of fabric. There is a tugging in his soul; something isn’t right. A realm usually full of bustling Grimmkin and firelight is empty. Where is Incubo?
He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.
Most felines land on their paws. Crimson, despite notably not being a cat, was not the exception to this rule, crashing straight to the floor and also screaming in sheer panic. Luckily for them, the notion of landing on all four paws helped with the shock a little bit.
They don't even have time to point at Spotlight in equal confusion before following their line of sight to Grimm.
GRIMM!
They reflexively make a bolt to him in an effort to make sure he's okay, scrambling to actually properly run on TWO paws instead of all four like some kind of creature running up the stairs.
Grimm, you good?! Are you okay?- They quickly shake their head to properly get their thoughts in order. Are you hurt?
Unfortunately, despite becoming more and more feline due to the Curse, Scarlet is not as lucky as Crimson is. In fact, she ends up faceplanting onto the fabric.
"NYAUGH, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Groaning, Scarlet slowly stands up, using her firenail as support. As she glances around, she notices Spotlight and Crimson, as well as...
"...Oh you've GOT to be SHITTING ME."
The one person they wanted to see the least, lying on the floor.
Grimm gently presses on Crimson’s head like one would to keep a cat away from their food. “I am fine, Crimson. Just a bit startled.”
He heaves a sigh upon hearing Scarlet’s reaction, instead turning to Spotlight. “You are all here. I do not know who or what summoned us but—”
The air he breathes grows heavy for a moment, a shudder wracking him. In a flash, so short he can hardly tell it happens, a smell tinged with essence engulfs him.
The droning whine from Crimson is more felt than heard, but they relent, and back up to let Spotlight have room. Perhaps Spotlight has a better frame of reference?
Not like they had much of a reference regarding the Grimm Troupe. Being raised by wolves does that, unfortunately.
Don't think about that. They look over to Scarlet, trying to gauge off of what they knew and also their sibling's reaction to the surroundings.
An arctic breeze. Thunderstorm rain. Burning forests. A field of dandielions.
All these smells and more filled Scarlet’s senses, as well as the overwhelming presence of nightmare essence all around the air. Faintly, Scarlet could sense Spotlight’s dream essence.
Wait. How are they able to smell all of this? How can they even sense essence?
“Something is not right. We need to keep moving.”
In the distance, a silhouette shoots long, fabric tendrils into the ceiling and flies up like a puppet on a string.
In its wake is something baring the shape of a burlap sack.
[Spotlight notices the figure in the distance and immediately draws their nail. Eyes made of fire appear in all four of Spotlight eye sockets and display a look of fear and determination]
Spotlight's warning gives Crimson enough time to tear their focus off of Scarlet, and onto what they're seeing. They're wary, cloak bristling slightly. Something along the lines of be willing to fight rings out in the back of their head - a secondary warning, built for the worst case.
They couldn't tell if there were any thorns in the area, but they slowly back up. They debate on whether a weapon would be needed or not, then decides against it. They'd probably need it later, and it's too soon to call the dreamnail in play. For now, they slowly back up, keeping themselves as low to the ground as possible, cloak bristling further.
Grimm steps closer and drags the sack over. It’s a Grimmkin: devoid of essence. The Bad Feeling leads away from it and into the ‘sky’ like a trail of footprints.
Hunted? What could possibly hunt us here? There’s only us, The Grimmkins, and The Nightmare-
[Spotlight freezes immediately upon thinking of The Nightmare King hunting them down. The flames in their eyes go wide in fear as they remember the encounters they’ve had with them]
[Suddenly, the flames show a more determined expression as they ready their nail and conjure another fireball in their free claw. They didn’t know for certain why they were here, nor why everyone present is potentially being hunted by The Nightmare King, but what Spotlight did know was that this was a chance to avenge a friend of their’s: Tracker.]
Crimson sees Spotlight preparing to fight, and has a moment of mental dissonance.
Wha- hey hey hey what- what are you doing. Why are we immediately willing to pick a fight uhm.
They quiet down, really not wanting to get the most bombastic side-eyes from literally everyone.
Can- we talk about this, uhm… sir? Bestie, even? Can we talk about this? Can we maybe not have this come to blows? Please?
Despite their wariness, they're still willing to try to at least come to some form of understanding before trying out stabbing.
The insult cuts Grimm deeply, but he has no right to chide Scarlet. The Bad Feeling stirs the air as something serpentine drags its way out of the shadows.
Grimm can hardly smell anything past the smoke as eight red eyes light up the dark. Something weighs at the bottom of his soul before being crushed under bestial hunger.
Incubo remains somewhat shadowed but his presence is made clear. Suddenly everyone is very, very afraid.
Grimm can hardly hear himself shout “RUN!” before he’s sprinting away. The walls tighten, forming a maze. And the Minotaur is right behind the group.
[Spotlight’s scar shines a bright red in Incubo’s presence as they begin to breathe rapidly. The rising fear caused their stance to falter, the grip on their nail to slack. and the flame in their claw to dim as they take a few small steps back]
[However, they didn’t run. They still kept their nail drawn and the flame alive, but their stance was still weak. Weak enough for anyone to drag them away]
Crimson almost initially backs up to run, cloak and fur bristling, and then is VERY painfully aware that Spotlight is going to be a potential casualty if they are left behind. They have next to no time to gauge their options, so they quickly latch their paws into their arm, claws digging as they try to get Spotlight to START MOVING.
DID YOU NOT HEAR- RUN!
Their voice is a pained mix of what a leader should sound like and the equivalent of a terrified cat, snapping teeth at Scarlet to ALSO start moving, quickly bolting after Grimm. SURELY he knows a way OUT, right? RIGHT?
The beast looks down at its prey, eyes beaming down. It stretches its malformed maw and attempts to bite Scarlet half-heartedly. But before its teeth can make contact Grimm pulls her away with his wings.
He somehow manages to keep pace with the others despite this little setback.
“I told you to run!”
The beast takes one giant stride for every three steps they take. They’re being herded like roaches.
[Spotlight was still being dragged by Crimson. They kept their nail drawn just in case, but now they were more focused on getting the hell out of here]
[At some point, they try to Void Walk so they could run without being dragged, but they couldn’t use Void for some reason…]
Wh-what…
[They tried again, but nothing happened. So they just decided to continue running without being dragged Crimson’s paw still latched onto their arm]
Eventually they do let go of Spotlight's arm, mostly to point at Scarlet.
SCARLET I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GODS ARE OUT THERE I- MMMMMMM-
They have to physically avoid shaking her, and the second there's a corner they practically bound right off of it to shave off a few seconds, rolling for a little bit before scrambling back up to keep up. They debated on whether not they could hypothetically deter the current issue with loud noises, they could get the designated fox scream down fairly okay, but they really didn't want to do that overall. In fact, they'd rather watch to try to get a better idea on how to solve this particular issue. Preferably from a distance, but that's beside the point.
Could burrowing be an option? Could they even dig through fabric fast enough to do that, let alone enough to fit everyone? Was it going to hurt Incubo? WHY ARE THEY THINKING ABOUT THAT?
They almost lag behind to test that by focusing a bit more on the fabric underneath them, then decides nope! Not Doing That! and manages to catch up.
Grimm can hardly feel his own limbs as his strings squeeze him tight but do not pull. Is Incubo enjoying this? Incubo seems fixed on hunting down Scarlet first and foremost, but is closer to jogging than sprinting. Grimm is able to make a few sharp leaps and turns and have the beast lost before he can warp the maze.
He ducks behind a fleshy wall, gesturing for the others to stay silent as he places Scarlet down. The beast laps around in search of them. Don’t smell like fear. Don’t smell like anything, really. Or He will find you. Where did he hear that? He has vague memories of sitting around a lantern with friends but it wasn’t you not your face not your friends it never happened
With each thundering step Incubo takes he feels a tugging in his soul. Being bound to the god had its perks in this situation. Once he can no longer sense the beast he relaxes.
And then a dozen velvet tendrils wrap around him, yanking him away. Incubo seems to be in his normal form now. From here the rancid feeling is stronger than ever. He tries to reach out to Incubo, but internal communication is blocked off.
Luckily he has just enough of his wits about him to understand he’s being used as bait of some sort. But why…?
[Whenever they round the corner, Spotlight places a claw on the wall and begins breathing heavily while trying to figure out why they couldn’t use Void. Was it connected to Shadelight? Do they need Shadelight in order to actually use Void??]
[Before they could truly want to figure out if that was the case, they notice Grimm being taken away by Incubo]
Part of them wants to hide. They can feel a portion of them wanting to shrink away, to hide underneath cloak and fur. They fight that want furiously, grabbing onto Spotlight immediately to pull them back into the safety of hidden.
WAIT.
They instead poke their snout out of the hiding spot, sniffing the air warily. They've crouched down enough to be practically on all four of their paws, and it was almost on habit for them on how steady the drop was.
Stay quiet. Stay hidden. I will see first to see if the coast is clear, and if it isn't, you will know.
[As Spotlight gets dragged back to the safe spot, they pause and just stand there. Every part of the is saying to just run after The Nightmare King, but ultimately they know that it may end up causing more issues than it could solve]
[With nothing else to do, they sit down and just stare at their free claw]
They can't tell if it's safe or not. Which is never good. The quiet is starting to get to them, looking back outside.
And then, a flicker of an idea. One that they.. do not know if it will work or not. But it is worth a shot, as they quickly spark a small ember, and then focuses on it. The small flame they summon, in turn, shifts to whatever they have on their mind, something low to the ground that shouldn't be easily traced back to them (though on how certain they are on that instance is… low). Something that they could use, hypothetically, to scout the immediate area to see if it was safe.
Once the flame 'scurries' just out of sight, there is a slight problem that Crimson runs into very quickly. They can't…. actually see through the flame. So, the internal plan diverts from scout to as a makeshift alarm bell for the immediate vicinity.
Stars, they hope it works.
They try to shove down their cannibalistic urges, instead focusing merely on making sure the Nightmare King doesn't come back, or at least making sure it hurts like hell if he does.
You can't ignore it forever, Scarlet. Sooner or later, you will have to face the truth.
Shut up. She's been running away all this time. She can keep running.
Incubo can smell the fear despite the distance. Honestly, he’s surprised the little group hasn’t come running. Making this so much harder
Grimm is squirming uselessly. Surely he doesn’t really think Incubo is going to kill him, does he?
He inhales despite not needing to truly breathe, committing the feeling of holding Grimm like this to memory. He feels strong for once after stealing that essence.
This is the last time he ever will
Incubo flips the realm upside down, funneling Grimm’s children toward him.
[Spotlight, immediately upon the realm being flipped, tries to catch themself on the wall with their claw to slow their descent, but their grip slips and they fall onto the slanted ground before sliding down]
There is the loudest, most fox-like alarm scream from Crimson as they quickly scramble to find a clawhold, ANYTHING, ANYTHING, to cling onto, latching practically all of their claws into fabric and almost just as swiftly CLIMBS, barking- or, more accurately, screaming "CLAWS! CLAWS!!" at Scarlet and Spotlight, hoping the message got across as they very frantically look around the area to try to follow any movement, flattening themselves against the- ceiling, now.
CAN YOU PLEASE NOT TRY TO KILL US I LIKE LIVING, THANK YOU.
Mother would have picked a fight on the spot. Crimson is not as brave and/or reckless. Probably both, now that they think about it.
They have to act fast, and they don't know what to act WITH.
Scarlet barely has any time to react, trying and failing to claw at the floor-turned-ceiling before tumbling down alongside Spotlight. However, she breaks into a manic laugh, baring her teeth and claws brandishing her firenail.
"BRING IT ON, NIGHTMARE KING! I'M NOT SCARED OF YOU!"
Incubo hears the satisfying thump of bodies hitting the floor and smiles to himself. This was an excellent plan, even if he did not account for Crimson sensing the rift.
“Eager, are we? Well I am not one to keep an audience waiting. Our coexistence has harmed enough bugs. Consider this a balancing of scales.” Then, like any good performer, he bows. He’s sure Grimm would too. He should be excited for a dance as high-stakes as this one.
A curtain of darkness covers the realm and then parts to reveal a massive stage. In the shadows behind it lurks the reason for all that stolen essence. The silhouette of a serpentine creature watches from backstage, its eight eyes gleaming like spotlights.
Basked in their glow are two Grimmkin Nightmares, strings gleaming like stars. They look like reanimated corpses, despite being the same sacks as usual.
(100/100)
(1d10 Accuracy Dice: 8)
(1d20 Combat Dice: 6)
(6-2, 4!)
Crimson sees the sudden (and potentially dangerous) situation. Grimm's there, but they're unsure if their own sense of stability will do much - plus, Incubo probably was going to see that as a challenge, and they knew even with possible backup, it'd be possibly the most… trickiest fight alive.
Spotlight appears to be at the very least distracted, and there's two (as opposed to Crimson's little group of three). It's a difficult decision.
Grimm can wait, no matter how much it hurts for them to think about it. Their siblings need help.
They angle their snout, seeking out the second one. They don't want to kill. They really don't. But the back of their throat starts clicking, trying to detangle their paws to safely move themselves to get a better angle. They seek that internal flame, and fire it in one singular fireball towards the second Grimmkin.
Whether it was a bait or not is up to Crimson and any following reactions.
[Now Playing.]
Grimm finds himself on a floor of fabric. There is a tugging in his soul; something isn’t right. A realm usually full of bustling Grimmkin and firelight is empty. Where is Incubo?
He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.
Most felines land on their paws. Crimson, despite notably not being a cat, was not the exception to this rule, crashing straight to the floor and also screaming in sheer panic. Luckily for them, the notion of landing on all four paws helped with the shock a little bit.
They don't even have time to point at Spotlight in equal confusion before following their line of sight to Grimm.
GRIMM!
They reflexively make a bolt to him in an effort to make sure he's okay, scrambling to actually properly run on TWO paws instead of all four like some kind of creature running up the stairs.
Grimm, you good?! Are you okay?- They quickly shake their head to properly get their thoughts in order. Are you hurt?
Unfortunately, despite becoming more and more feline due to the Curse, Scarlet is not as lucky as Crimson is. In fact, she ends up faceplanting onto the fabric.
"NYAUGH, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Groaning, Scarlet slowly stands up, using her firenail as support. As she glances around, she notices Spotlight and Crimson, as well as...
"...Oh you've GOT to be SHITTING ME."
The one person they wanted to see the least, lying on the floor.
Grimm gently presses on Crimson’s head like one would to keep a cat away from their food. “I am fine, Crimson. Just a bit startled.”
He heaves a sigh upon hearing Scarlet’s reaction, instead turning to Spotlight. “You are all here. I do not know who or what summoned us but—”
The air he breathes grows heavy for a moment, a shudder wracking him. In a flash, so short he can hardly tell it happens, a smell tinged with essence engulfs him.
The droning whine from Crimson is more felt than heard, but they relent, and back up to let Spotlight have room. Perhaps Spotlight has a better frame of reference?
Not like they had much of a reference regarding the Grimm Troupe. Being raised by wolves does that, unfortunately.
Don't think about that. They look over to Scarlet, trying to gauge off of what they knew and also their sibling's reaction to the surroundings.
An arctic breeze. Thunderstorm rain. Burning forests. A field of dandielions.
All these smells and more filled Scarlet’s senses, as well as the overwhelming presence of nightmare essence all around the air. Faintly, Scarlet could sense Spotlight’s dream essence.
Wait. How are they able to smell all of this? How can they even sense essence?
“Something is not right. We need to keep moving.”
In the distance, a silhouette shoots long, fabric tendrils into the ceiling and flies up like a puppet on a string.
In its wake is something baring the shape of a burlap sack.
[Spotlight notices the figure in the distance and immediately draws their nail. Eyes made of fire appear in all four of Spotlight eye sockets and display a look of fear and determination]
Spotlight's warning gives Crimson enough time to tear their focus off of Scarlet, and onto what they're seeing. They're wary, cloak bristling slightly. Something along the lines of be willing to fight rings out in the back of their head - a secondary warning, built for the worst case.
They couldn't tell if there were any thorns in the area, but they slowly back up. They debate on whether a weapon would be needed or not, then decides against it. They'd probably need it later, and it's too soon to call the dreamnail in play. For now, they slowly back up, keeping themselves as low to the ground as possible, cloak bristling further.
Grimm steps closer and drags the sack over. It’s a Grimmkin: devoid of essence. The Bad Feeling leads away from it and into the ‘sky’ like a trail of footprints.
Hunted? What could possibly hunt us here? There’s only us, The Grimmkins, and The Nightmare-
[Spotlight freezes immediately upon thinking of The Nightmare King hunting them down. The flames in their eyes go wide in fear as they remember the encounters they’ve had with them]
[Suddenly, the flames show a more determined expression as they ready their nail and conjure another fireball in their free claw. They didn’t know for certain why they were here, nor why everyone present is potentially being hunted by The Nightmare King, but what Spotlight did know was that this was a chance to avenge a friend of their’s: Tracker.]
Crimson sees Spotlight preparing to fight, and has a moment of mental dissonance.
Wha- hey hey hey what- what are you doing. Why are we immediately willing to pick a fight uhm.
They quiet down, really not wanting to get the most bombastic side-eyes from literally everyone.
Can- we talk about this, uhm… sir? Bestie, even? Can we talk about this? Can we maybe not have this come to blows? Please?
Despite their wariness, they're still willing to try to at least come to some form of understanding before trying out stabbing.
The insult cuts Grimm deeply, but he has no right to chide Scarlet. The Bad Feeling stirs the air as something serpentine drags its way out of the shadows.
Grimm can hardly smell anything past the smoke as eight red eyes light up the dark. Something weighs at the bottom of his soul before being crushed under bestial hunger.
Incubo remains somewhat shadowed but his presence is made clear. Suddenly everyone is very, very afraid.
Grimm can hardly hear himself shout “RUN!” before he’s sprinting away. The walls tighten, forming a maze. And the Minotaur is right behind the group.
[Spotlight’s scar shines a bright red in Incubo’s presence as they begin to breathe rapidly. The rising fear caused their stance to falter, the grip on their nail to slack. and the flame in their claw to dim as they take a few small steps back]
[However, they didn’t run. They still kept their nail drawn and the flame alive, but their stance was still weak. Weak enough for anyone to drag them away]
Crimson almost initially backs up to run, cloak and fur bristling, and then is VERY painfully aware that Spotlight is going to be a potential casualty if they are left behind. They have next to no time to gauge their options, so they quickly latch their paws into their arm, claws digging as they try to get Spotlight to START MOVING.
DID YOU NOT HEAR- RUN!
Their voice is a pained mix of what a leader should sound like and the equivalent of a terrified cat, snapping teeth at Scarlet to ALSO start moving, quickly bolting after Grimm. SURELY he knows a way OUT, right? RIGHT?
The beast looks down at its prey, eyes beaming down. It stretches its malformed maw and attempts to bite Scarlet half-heartedly. But before its teeth can make contact Grimm pulls her away with his wings.
He somehow manages to keep pace with the others despite this little setback.
“I told you to run!”
The beast takes one giant stride for every three steps they take. They’re being herded like roaches.
[Spotlight was still being dragged by Crimson. They kept their nail drawn just in case, but now they were more focused on getting the hell out of here]
[At some point, they try to Void Walk so they could run without being dragged, but they couldn’t use Void for some reason…]
Wh-what…
[They tried again, but nothing happened. So they just decided to continue running without being dragged Crimson’s paw still latched onto their arm]
Eventually they do let go of Spotlight's arm, mostly to point at Scarlet.
SCARLET I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GODS ARE OUT THERE I- MMMMMMM-
They have to physically avoid shaking her, and the second there's a corner they practically bound right off of it to shave off a few seconds, rolling for a little bit before scrambling back up to keep up. They debated on whether not they could hypothetically deter the current issue with loud noises, they could get the designated fox scream down fairly okay, but they really didn't want to do that overall. In fact, they'd rather watch to try to get a better idea on how to solve this particular issue. Preferably from a distance, but that's beside the point.
Could burrowing be an option? Could they even dig through fabric fast enough to do that, let alone enough to fit everyone? Was it going to hurt Incubo? WHY ARE THEY THINKING ABOUT THAT?
They almost lag behind to test that by focusing a bit more on the fabric underneath them, then decides nope! Not Doing That! and manages to catch up.
Grimm can hardly feel his own limbs as his strings squeeze him tight but do not pull. Is Incubo enjoying this? Incubo seems fixed on hunting down Scarlet first and foremost, but is closer to jogging than sprinting. Grimm is able to make a few sharp leaps and turns and have the beast lost before he can warp the maze.
He ducks behind a fleshy wall, gesturing for the others to stay silent as he places Scarlet down. The beast laps around in search of them. Don’t smell like fear. Don’t smell like anything, really. Or He will find you. Where did he hear that? He has vague memories of sitting around a lantern with friends but it wasn’t you not your face not your friends it never happened
With each thundering step Incubo takes he feels a tugging in his soul. Being bound to the god had its perks in this situation. Once he can no longer sense the beast he relaxes.
And then a dozen velvet tendrils wrap around him, yanking him away. Incubo seems to be in his normal form now. From here the rancid feeling is stronger than ever. He tries to reach out to Incubo, but internal communication is blocked off.
Luckily he has just enough of his wits about him to understand he’s being used as bait of some sort. But why…?
[Whenever they round the corner, Spotlight places a claw on the wall and begins breathing heavily while trying to figure out why they couldn’t use Void. Was it connected to Shadelight? Do they need Shadelight in order to actually use Void??]
[Before they could truly want to figure out if that was the case, they notice Grimm being taken away by Incubo]
Part of them wants to hide. They can feel a portion of them wanting to shrink away, to hide underneath cloak and fur. They fight that want furiously, grabbing onto Spotlight immediately to pull them back into the safety of hidden.
WAIT.
They instead poke their snout out of the hiding spot, sniffing the air warily. They've crouched down enough to be practically on all four of their paws, and it was almost on habit for them on how steady the drop was.
Stay quiet. Stay hidden. I will see first to see if the coast is clear, and if it isn't, you will know.
[As Spotlight gets dragged back to the safe spot, they pause and just stand there. Every part of the is saying to just run after The Nightmare King, but ultimately they know that it may end up causing more issues than it could solve]
[With nothing else to do, they sit down and just stare at their free claw]
They can't tell if it's safe or not. Which is never good. The quiet is starting to get to them, looking back outside.
And then, a flicker of an idea. One that they.. do not know if it will work or not. But it is worth a shot, as they quickly spark a small ember, and then focuses on it. The small flame they summon, in turn, shifts to whatever they have on their mind, something low to the ground that shouldn't be easily traced back to them (though on how certain they are on that instance is… low). Something that they could use, hypothetically, to scout the immediate area to see if it was safe.
Once the flame 'scurries' just out of sight, there is a slight problem that Crimson runs into very quickly. They can't…. actually see through the flame. So, the internal plan diverts from scout to as a makeshift alarm bell for the immediate vicinity.
Stars, they hope it works.
They try to shove down their cannibalistic urges, instead focusing merely on making sure the Nightmare King doesn't come back, or at least making sure it hurts like hell if he does.
You can't ignore it forever, Scarlet. Sooner or later, you will have to face the truth.
Shut up. She's been running away all this time. She can keep running.
Incubo can smell the fear despite the distance. Honestly, he’s surprised the little group hasn’t come running. Making this so much harder
Grimm is squirming uselessly. Surely he doesn’t really think Incubo is going to kill him, does he?
He inhales despite not needing to truly breathe, committing the feeling of holding Grimm like this to memory. He feels strong for once after stealing that essence.
This is the last time he ever will
Incubo flips the realm upside down, funneling Grimm’s children toward him.
[Spotlight, immediately upon the realm being flipped, tries to catch themself on the wall with their claw to slow their descent, but their grip slips and they fall onto the slanted ground before sliding down]
There is the loudest, most fox-like alarm scream from Crimson as they quickly scramble to find a clawhold, ANYTHING, ANYTHING, to cling onto, latching practically all of their claws into fabric and almost just as swiftly CLIMBS, barking- or, more accurately, screaming "CLAWS! CLAWS!!" at Scarlet and Spotlight, hoping the message got across as they very frantically look around the area to try to follow any movement, flattening themselves against the- ceiling, now.
CAN YOU PLEASE NOT TRY TO KILL US I LIKE LIVING, THANK YOU.
Mother would have picked a fight on the spot. Crimson is not as brave and/or reckless. Probably both, now that they think about it.
They have to act fast, and they don't know what to act WITH.
Scarlet barely has any time to react, trying and failing to claw at the floor-turned-ceiling before tumbling down alongside Spotlight. However, she breaks into a manic laugh, baring her teeth and claws brandishing her firenail.
"BRING IT ON, NIGHTMARE KING! I'M NOT SCARED OF YOU!"
[Now Playing.]
Grimm finds himself on a floor of fabric. There is a tugging in his soul; something isn’t right. A realm usually full of bustling Grimmkin and firelight is empty. Where is Incubo?
He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.
Most felines land on their paws. Crimson, despite notably not being a cat, was not the exception to this rule, crashing straight to the floor and also screaming in sheer panic. Luckily for them, the notion of landing on all four paws helped with the shock a little bit.
They don't even have time to point at Spotlight in equal confusion before following their line of sight to Grimm.
GRIMM!
They reflexively make a bolt to him in an effort to make sure he's okay, scrambling to actually properly run on TWO paws instead of all four like some kind of creature running up the stairs.
Grimm, you good?! Are you okay?- They quickly shake their head to properly get their thoughts in order. Are you hurt?
Unfortunately, despite becoming more and more feline due to the Curse, Scarlet is not as lucky as Crimson is. In fact, she ends up faceplanting onto the fabric.
"NYAUGH, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Groaning, Scarlet slowly stands up, using her firenail as support. As she glances around, she notices Spotlight and Crimson, as well as...
"...Oh you've GOT to be SHITTING ME."
The one person they wanted to see the least, lying on the floor.
Grimm gently presses on Crimson’s head like one would to keep a cat away from their food. “I am fine, Crimson. Just a bit startled.”
He heaves a sigh upon hearing Scarlet’s reaction, instead turning to Spotlight. “You are all here. I do not know who or what summoned us but—”
The air he breathes grows heavy for a moment, a shudder wracking him. In a flash, so short he can hardly tell it happens, a smell tinged with essence engulfs him.
The droning whine from Crimson is more felt than heard, but they relent, and back up to let Spotlight have room. Perhaps Spotlight has a better frame of reference?
Not like they had much of a reference regarding the Grimm Troupe. Being raised by wolves does that, unfortunately.
Don't think about that. They look over to Scarlet, trying to gauge off of what they knew and also their sibling's reaction to the surroundings.
An arctic breeze. Thunderstorm rain. Burning forests. A field of dandielions.
All these smells and more filled Scarlet’s senses, as well as the overwhelming presence of nightmare essence all around the air. Faintly, Scarlet could sense Spotlight’s dream essence.
Wait. How are they able to smell all of this? How can they even sense essence?
“Something is not right. We need to keep moving.”
In the distance, a silhouette shoots long, fabric tendrils into the ceiling and flies up like a puppet on a string.
In its wake is something baring the shape of a burlap sack.
[Spotlight notices the figure in the distance and immediately draws their nail. Eyes made of fire appear in all four of Spotlight eye sockets and display a look of fear and determination]
Spotlight's warning gives Crimson enough time to tear their focus off of Scarlet, and onto what they're seeing. They're wary, cloak bristling slightly. Something along the lines of be willing to fight rings out in the back of their head - a secondary warning, built for the worst case.
They couldn't tell if there were any thorns in the area, but they slowly back up. They debate on whether a weapon would be needed or not, then decides against it. They'd probably need it later, and it's too soon to call the dreamnail in play. For now, they slowly back up, keeping themselves as low to the ground as possible, cloak bristling further.
Grimm steps closer and drags the sack over. It’s a Grimmkin: devoid of essence. The Bad Feeling leads away from it and into the ‘sky’ like a trail of footprints.
Hunted? What could possibly hunt us here? There’s only us, The Grimmkins, and The Nightmare-
[Spotlight freezes immediately upon thinking of The Nightmare King hunting them down. The flames in their eyes go wide in fear as they remember the encounters they’ve had with them]
[Suddenly, the flames show a more determined expression as they ready their nail and conjure another fireball in their free claw. They didn’t know for certain why they were here, nor why everyone present is potentially being hunted by The Nightmare King, but what Spotlight did know was that this was a chance to avenge a friend of their’s: Tracker.]
Crimson sees Spotlight preparing to fight, and has a moment of mental dissonance.
Wha- hey hey hey what- what are you doing. Why are we immediately willing to pick a fight uhm.
They quiet down, really not wanting to get the most bombastic side-eyes from literally everyone.
Can- we talk about this, uhm… sir? Bestie, even? Can we talk about this? Can we maybe not have this come to blows? Please?
Despite their wariness, they're still willing to try to at least come to some form of understanding before trying out stabbing.
The insult cuts Grimm deeply, but he has no right to chide Scarlet. The Bad Feeling stirs the air as something serpentine drags its way out of the shadows.
Grimm can hardly smell anything past the smoke as eight red eyes light up the dark. Something weighs at the bottom of his soul before being crushed under bestial hunger.
Incubo remains somewhat shadowed but his presence is made clear. Suddenly everyone is very, very afraid.
Grimm can hardly hear himself shout “RUN!” before he’s sprinting away. The walls tighten, forming a maze. And the Minotaur is right behind the group.
[Spotlight’s scar shines a bright red in Incubo’s presence as they begin to breathe rapidly. The rising fear caused their stance to falter, the grip on their nail to slack. and the flame in their claw to dim as they take a few small steps back]
[However, they didn’t run. They still kept their nail drawn and the flame alive, but their stance was still weak. Weak enough for anyone to drag them away]
Crimson almost initially backs up to run, cloak and fur bristling, and then is VERY painfully aware that Spotlight is going to be a potential casualty if they are left behind. They have next to no time to gauge their options, so they quickly latch their paws into their arm, claws digging as they try to get Spotlight to START MOVING.
DID YOU NOT HEAR- RUN!
Their voice is a pained mix of what a leader should sound like and the equivalent of a terrified cat, snapping teeth at Scarlet to ALSO start moving, quickly bolting after Grimm. SURELY he knows a way OUT, right? RIGHT?
The beast looks down at its prey, eyes beaming down. It stretches its malformed maw and attempts to bite Scarlet half-heartedly. But before its teeth can make contact Grimm pulls her away with his wings.
He somehow manages to keep pace with the others despite this little setback.
“I told you to run!”
The beast takes one giant stride for every three steps they take. They’re being herded like roaches.
[Spotlight was still being dragged by Crimson. They kept their nail drawn just in case, but now they were more focused on getting the hell out of here]
[At some point, they try to Void Walk so they could run without being dragged, but they couldn’t use Void for some reason…]
Wh-what…
[They tried again, but nothing happened. So they just decided to continue running without being dragged Crimson’s paw still latched onto their arm]
Eventually they do let go of Spotlight's arm, mostly to point at Scarlet.
SCARLET I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GODS ARE OUT THERE I- MMMMMMM-
They have to physically avoid shaking her, and the second there's a corner they practically bound right off of it to shave off a few seconds, rolling for a little bit before scrambling back up to keep up. They debated on whether not they could hypothetically deter the current issue with loud noises, they could get the designated fox scream down fairly okay, but they really didn't want to do that overall. In fact, they'd rather watch to try to get a better idea on how to solve this particular issue. Preferably from a distance, but that's beside the point.
Could burrowing be an option? Could they even dig through fabric fast enough to do that, let alone enough to fit everyone? Was it going to hurt Incubo? WHY ARE THEY THINKING ABOUT THAT?
They almost lag behind to test that by focusing a bit more on the fabric underneath them, then decides nope! Not Doing That! and manages to catch up.
Grimm can hardly feel his own limbs as his strings squeeze him tight but do not pull. Is Incubo enjoying this? Incubo seems fixed on hunting down Scarlet first and foremost, but is closer to jogging than sprinting. Grimm is able to make a few sharp leaps and turns and have the beast lost before he can warp the maze.
He ducks behind a fleshy wall, gesturing for the others to stay silent as he places Scarlet down. The beast laps around in search of them. Don’t smell like fear. Don’t smell like anything, really. Or He will find you. Where did he hear that? He has vague memories of sitting around a lantern with friends but it wasn’t you not your face not your friends it never happened
With each thundering step Incubo takes he feels a tugging in his soul. Being bound to the god had its perks in this situation. Once he can no longer sense the beast he relaxes.
And then a dozen velvet tendrils wrap around him, yanking him away. Incubo seems to be in his normal form now. From here the rancid feeling is stronger than ever. He tries to reach out to Incubo, but internal communication is blocked off.
Luckily he has just enough of his wits about him to understand he’s being used as bait of some sort. But why…?
[Whenever they round the corner, Spotlight places a claw on the wall and begins breathing heavily while trying to figure out why they couldn’t use Void. Was it connected to Shadelight? Do they need Shadelight in order to actually use Void??]
[Before they could truly want to figure out if that was the case, they notice Grimm being taken away by Incubo]
Part of them wants to hide. They can feel a portion of them wanting to shrink away, to hide underneath cloak and fur. They fight that want furiously, grabbing onto Spotlight immediately to pull them back into the safety of hidden.
WAIT.
They instead poke their snout out of the hiding spot, sniffing the air warily. They've crouched down enough to be practically on all four of their paws, and it was almost on habit for them on how steady the drop was.
Stay quiet. Stay hidden. I will see first to see if the coast is clear, and if it isn't, you will know.
[As Spotlight gets dragged back to the safe spot, they pause and just stand there. Every part of the is saying to just run after The Nightmare King, but ultimately they know that it may end up causing more issues than it could solve]
[With nothing else to do, they sit down and just stare at their free claw]
They can't tell if it's safe or not. Which is never good. The quiet is starting to get to them, looking back outside.
And then, a flicker of an idea. One that they.. do not know if it will work or not. But it is worth a shot, as they quickly spark a small ember, and then focuses on it. The small flame they summon, in turn, shifts to whatever they have on their mind, something low to the ground that shouldn't be easily traced back to them (though on how certain they are on that instance is… low). Something that they could use, hypothetically, to scout the immediate area to see if it was safe.
Once the flame 'scurries' just out of sight, there is a slight problem that Crimson runs into very quickly. They can't…. actually see through the flame. So, the internal plan diverts from scout to as a makeshift alarm bell for the immediate vicinity.
Stars, they hope it works.
They try to shove down their cannibalistic urges, instead focusing merely on making sure the Nightmare King doesn't come back, or at least making sure it hurts like hell if he does.
You can't ignore it forever, Scarlet. Sooner or later, you will have to face the truth.
Shut up. She's been running away all this time. She can keep running.
Dew wakes to consciousness within a cage on wheels.
He's being dragged by a handful of Legion bugs. They are moving as part of one great caravan. Two heavily armored warriors with hooked polearms flank the cage.
As he stirs, a fluffy head and two red eyes peek down, hanging upside down from above.
"Hello. You're the Green Silence, right? You look less impressive than I expected."
"Ughhhhh..."
Dew is slow to wake up, trying to get a grip on their current reality.
Good, you're awake. I was beginning to think you were dead.
They'd know immediately if he was dead, and they know this. They take a look around the cage. Any idea where they currently are?
A cage.
Yeah no shit, but where are they being taken to?
If I were to take a guess? Probably the Legion's base.
Dew notices the fluffy head and backs away, instinctively reaching for weapons that were not there.
"You're in a cage," the moth points out helpfully.
They drop down, now standing on the outside edge of the cage, hands on the bars. The hands, in fact, are the first thing to draw attention. This moth's hands are made of scorched, black metal. They are sharp - each finger ends in a perfectly pointed talon. There is a heat that emanates from them, too.
The arms follow up to the shoulders, made entirely of this metal. Hollow on the inside, with holes that go through, they would have once been beautiful in their elegant simplicity. Now, they are beautiful in an entirely different way; melted out of shape, they exude strange menace.
The moth's body is covered in fluffy fur, mostly black with patterns of white and red - a thick scruff of bright red fluff surrounds their neck. Their face is a sheer white, aside from ritual scars. They faintly pulse red, and seem to extend across their entire body. Their eyes are vivid crimson, though a glow of golden orange shines from within.
They wear their wings around their body like a cloak, and seem to possess no other equipment or clothing. However, a few feet behind them, two large gauntlets made of the same scorched metal as their arms float. They hang down as if they were idle hands. They look deadly.
"What was your actual name? I've already forgotten. Oh, you asked my name right?"
They smile. Oh, dear, the moth has a mouth with teeth. Their voice is soft, with tones of something distantly hypnotic, but they speak with barely restrained energy.
"I'm Inferno."
[Images below cut! Art of Inferno, and an image of the kind of moth they are :3]
Art by @morphologist, my lovely friend and amazing artist, who you can also find at their toyhouse
Cecropia moth!!! The kind Inferno is meant to be :3
They poke one of their strangely long fingers through the bars of the cage to point at Dew.
"You are coming back with us! To Cinderhold!"
Letting go of the bars, their metal arms hang down. Even just idle like this - perhaps especially like this - they look like weapons.
They tilt their head, studying Dew. The way they look at him... This creature is dangerous. Yet they continue, in a cheerful manner;
"You didn't answer me, and I'm curious. What is your name? I'd like to know."
"Branch! Branch... Hm...."
They lunge at the cage suddenly, grabbing the bars. It shakes. The air heats up. The guards near the cage flinch.
"You hesitated! Tell me your actual name."
They pause. They tap the bars of the cage with their fingers, producing the sound of metal tapping on metal.
"... Well, it is fine if you don't. Everyone knows who you are, anyways. The Green Silence... what did you do, to get that title?"
[Now Playing.]
Grimm finds himself on a floor of fabric. There is a tugging in his soul; something isn’t right. A realm usually full of bustling Grimmkin and firelight is empty. Where is Incubo?
He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.
Most felines land on their paws. Crimson, despite notably not being a cat, was not the exception to this rule, crashing straight to the floor and also screaming in sheer panic. Luckily for them, the notion of landing on all four paws helped with the shock a little bit.
They don't even have time to point at Spotlight in equal confusion before following their line of sight to Grimm.
GRIMM!
They reflexively make a bolt to him in an effort to make sure he's okay, scrambling to actually properly run on TWO paws instead of all four like some kind of creature running up the stairs.
Grimm, you good?! Are you okay?- They quickly shake their head to properly get their thoughts in order. Are you hurt?
Unfortunately, despite becoming more and more feline due to the Curse, Scarlet is not as lucky as Crimson is. In fact, she ends up faceplanting onto the fabric.
"NYAUGH, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Groaning, Scarlet slowly stands up, using her firenail as support. As she glances around, she notices Spotlight and Crimson, as well as...
"...Oh you've GOT to be SHITTING ME."
The one person they wanted to see the least, lying on the floor.
Grimm gently presses on Crimson’s head like one would to keep a cat away from their food. “I am fine, Crimson. Just a bit startled.”
He heaves a sigh upon hearing Scarlet’s reaction, instead turning to Spotlight. “You are all here. I do not know who or what summoned us but—”
The air he breathes grows heavy for a moment, a shudder wracking him. In a flash, so short he can hardly tell it happens, a smell tinged with essence engulfs him.
The droning whine from Crimson is more felt than heard, but they relent, and back up to let Spotlight have room. Perhaps Spotlight has a better frame of reference?
Not like they had much of a reference regarding the Grimm Troupe. Being raised by wolves does that, unfortunately.
Don't think about that. They look over to Scarlet, trying to gauge off of what they knew and also their sibling's reaction to the surroundings.
An arctic breeze. Thunderstorm rain. Burning forests. A field of dandielions.
All these smells and more filled Scarlet’s senses, as well as the overwhelming presence of nightmare essence all around the air. Faintly, Scarlet could sense Spotlight’s dream essence.
Wait. How are they able to smell all of this? How can they even sense essence?
“Something is not right. We need to keep moving.”
In the distance, a silhouette shoots long, fabric tendrils into the ceiling and flies up like a puppet on a string.
In its wake is something baring the shape of a burlap sack.
[Spotlight notices the figure in the distance and immediately draws their nail. Eyes made of fire appear in all four of Spotlight eye sockets and display a look of fear and determination]
Spotlight's warning gives Crimson enough time to tear their focus off of Scarlet, and onto what they're seeing. They're wary, cloak bristling slightly. Something along the lines of be willing to fight rings out in the back of their head - a secondary warning, built for the worst case.
They couldn't tell if there were any thorns in the area, but they slowly back up. They debate on whether a weapon would be needed or not, then decides against it. They'd probably need it later, and it's too soon to call the dreamnail in play. For now, they slowly back up, keeping themselves as low to the ground as possible, cloak bristling further.
Grimm steps closer and drags the sack over. It’s a Grimmkin: devoid of essence. The Bad Feeling leads away from it and into the ‘sky’ like a trail of footprints.
Hunted? What could possibly hunt us here? There’s only us, The Grimmkins, and The Nightmare-
[Spotlight freezes immediately upon thinking of The Nightmare King hunting them down. The flames in their eyes go wide in fear as they remember the encounters they’ve had with them]
[Suddenly, the flames show a more determined expression as they ready their nail and conjure another fireball in their free claw. They didn’t know for certain why they were here, nor why everyone present is potentially being hunted by The Nightmare King, but what Spotlight did know was that this was a chance to avenge a friend of their’s: Tracker.]
Crimson sees Spotlight preparing to fight, and has a moment of mental dissonance.
Wha- hey hey hey what- what are you doing. Why are we immediately willing to pick a fight uhm.
They quiet down, really not wanting to get the most bombastic side-eyes from literally everyone.
Can- we talk about this, uhm… sir? Bestie, even? Can we talk about this? Can we maybe not have this come to blows? Please?
Despite their wariness, they're still willing to try to at least come to some form of understanding before trying out stabbing.
The insult cuts Grimm deeply, but he has no right to chide Scarlet. The Bad Feeling stirs the air as something serpentine drags its way out of the shadows.
Grimm can hardly smell anything past the smoke as eight red eyes light up the dark. Something weighs at the bottom of his soul before being crushed under bestial hunger.
Incubo remains somewhat shadowed but his presence is made clear. Suddenly everyone is very, very afraid.
Grimm can hardly hear himself shout “RUN!” before he’s sprinting away. The walls tighten, forming a maze. And the Minotaur is right behind the group.
[Spotlight’s scar shines a bright red in Incubo’s presence as they begin to breathe rapidly. The rising fear caused their stance to falter, the grip on their nail to slack. and the flame in their claw to dim as they take a few small steps back]
[However, they didn’t run. They still kept their nail drawn and the flame alive, but their stance was still weak. Weak enough for anyone to drag them away]
Crimson almost initially backs up to run, cloak and fur bristling, and then is VERY painfully aware that Spotlight is going to be a potential casualty if they are left behind. They have next to no time to gauge their options, so they quickly latch their paws into their arm, claws digging as they try to get Spotlight to START MOVING.
DID YOU NOT HEAR- RUN!
Their voice is a pained mix of what a leader should sound like and the equivalent of a terrified cat, snapping teeth at Scarlet to ALSO start moving, quickly bolting after Grimm. SURELY he knows a way OUT, right? RIGHT?
The beast looks down at its prey, eyes beaming down. It stretches its malformed maw and attempts to bite Scarlet half-heartedly. But before its teeth can make contact Grimm pulls her away with his wings.
He somehow manages to keep pace with the others despite this little setback.
“I told you to run!”
The beast takes one giant stride for every three steps they take. They’re being herded like roaches.
[Spotlight was still being dragged by Crimson. They kept their nail drawn just in case, but now they were more focused on getting the hell out of here]
[At some point, they try to Void Walk so they could run without being dragged, but they couldn’t use Void for some reason…]
Wh-what…
[They tried again, but nothing happened. So they just decided to continue running without being dragged Crimson’s paw still latched onto their arm]
Eventually they do let go of Spotlight's arm, mostly to point at Scarlet.
SCARLET I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GODS ARE OUT THERE I- MMMMMMM-
They have to physically avoid shaking her, and the second there's a corner they practically bound right off of it to shave off a few seconds, rolling for a little bit before scrambling back up to keep up. They debated on whether not they could hypothetically deter the current issue with loud noises, they could get the designated fox scream down fairly okay, but they really didn't want to do that overall. In fact, they'd rather watch to try to get a better idea on how to solve this particular issue. Preferably from a distance, but that's beside the point.
Could burrowing be an option? Could they even dig through fabric fast enough to do that, let alone enough to fit everyone? Was it going to hurt Incubo? WHY ARE THEY THINKING ABOUT THAT?
They almost lag behind to test that by focusing a bit more on the fabric underneath them, then decides nope! Not Doing That! and manages to catch up.
Grimm can hardly feel his own limbs as his strings squeeze him tight but do not pull. Is Incubo enjoying this? Incubo seems fixed on hunting down Scarlet first and foremost, but is closer to jogging than sprinting. Grimm is able to make a few sharp leaps and turns and have the beast lost before he can warp the maze.
He ducks behind a fleshy wall, gesturing for the others to stay silent as he places Scarlet down. The beast laps around in search of them. Don’t smell like fear. Don’t smell like anything, really. Or He will find you. Where did he hear that? He has vague memories of sitting around a lantern with friends but it wasn’t you not your face not your friends it never happened
With each thundering step Incubo takes he feels a tugging in his soul. Being bound to the god had its perks in this situation. Once he can no longer sense the beast he relaxes.
And then a dozen velvet tendrils wrap around him, yanking him away. Incubo seems to be in his normal form now. From here the rancid feeling is stronger than ever. He tries to reach out to Incubo, but internal communication is blocked off.
Luckily he has just enough of his wits about him to understand he’s being used as bait of some sort. But why…?
[Whenever they round the corner, Spotlight places a claw on the wall and begins breathing heavily while trying to figure out why they couldn’t use Void. Was it connected to Shadelight? Do they need Shadelight in order to actually use Void??]
[Before they could truly want to figure out if that was the case, they notice Grimm being taken away by Incubo]
Part of them wants to hide. They can feel a portion of them wanting to shrink away, to hide underneath cloak and fur. They fight that want furiously, grabbing onto Spotlight immediately to pull them back into the safety of hidden.
WAIT.
They instead poke their snout out of the hiding spot, sniffing the air warily. They've crouched down enough to be practically on all four of their paws, and it was almost on habit for them on how steady the drop was.
Stay quiet. Stay hidden. I will see first to see if the coast is clear, and if it isn't, you will know.
Dew wakes to consciousness within a cage on wheels.
He's being dragged by a handful of Legion bugs. They are moving as part of one great caravan. Two heavily armored warriors with hooked polearms flank the cage.
As he stirs, a fluffy head and two red eyes peek down, hanging upside down from above.
"Hello. You're the Green Silence, right? You look less impressive than I expected."
"Ughhhhh..."
Dew is slow to wake up, trying to get a grip on their current reality.
Good, you're awake. I was beginning to think you were dead.
They'd know immediately if he was dead, and they know this. They take a look around the cage. Any idea where they currently are?
A cage.
Yeah no shit, but where are they being taken to?
If I were to take a guess? Probably the Legion's base.
Dew notices the fluffy head and backs away, instinctively reaching for weapons that were not there.
"You're in a cage," the moth points out helpfully.
They drop down, now standing on the outside edge of the cage, hands on the bars. The hands, in fact, are the first thing to draw attention. This moth's hands are made of scorched, black metal. They are sharp - each finger ends in a perfectly pointed talon. There is a heat that emanates from them, too.
The arms follow up to the shoulders, made entirely of this metal. Hollow on the inside, with holes that go through, they would have once been beautiful in their elegant simplicity. Now, they are beautiful in an entirely different way; melted out of shape, they exude strange menace.
The moth's body is covered in fluffy fur, mostly black with patterns of white and red - a thick scruff of bright red fluff surrounds their neck. Their face is a sheer white, aside from ritual scars. They faintly pulse red, and seem to extend across their entire body. Their eyes are vivid crimson, though a glow of golden orange shines from within.
They wear their wings around their body like a cloak, and seem to possess no other equipment or clothing. However, a few feet behind them, two large gauntlets made of the same scorched metal as their arms float. They hang down as if they were idle hands. They look deadly.
"What was your actual name? I've already forgotten. Oh, you asked my name right?"
They smile. Oh, dear, the moth has a mouth with teeth. Their voice is soft, with tones of something distantly hypnotic, but they speak with barely restrained energy.
"I'm Inferno."
[Images below cut! Art of Inferno, and an image of the kind of moth they are :3]
Art by @morphologist, my lovely friend and amazing artist, who you can also find at their toyhouse
Cecropia moth!!! The kind Inferno is meant to be :3
They poke one of their strangely long fingers through the bars of the cage to point at Dew.
"You are coming back with us! To Cinderhold!"
Letting go of the bars, their metal arms hang down. Even just idle like this - perhaps especially like this - they look like weapons.
They tilt their head, studying Dew. The way they look at him... This creature is dangerous. Yet they continue, in a cheerful manner;
"You didn't answer me, and I'm curious. What is your name? I'd like to know."
Dew wakes to consciousness within a cage on wheels.
He's being dragged by a handful of Legion bugs. They are moving as part of one great caravan. Two heavily armored warriors with hooked polearms flank the cage.
As he stirs, a fluffy head and two red eyes peek down, hanging upside down from above.
"Hello. You're the Green Silence, right? You look less impressive than I expected."
"Ughhhhh..."
Dew is slow to wake up, trying to get a grip on their current reality.
Good, you're awake. I was beginning to think you were dead.
They'd know immediately if he was dead, and they know this. They take a look around the cage. Any idea where they currently are?
A cage.
Yeah no shit, but where are they being taken to?
If I were to take a guess? Probably the Legion's base.
Dew notices the fluffy head and backs away, instinctively reaching for weapons that were not there.
"You're in a cage," the moth points out helpfully.
They drop down, now standing on the outside edge of the cage, hands on the bars. The hands, in fact, are the first thing to draw attention. This moth's hands are made of scorched, black metal. They are sharp - each finger ends in a perfectly pointed talon. There is a heat that emanates from them, too.
The arms follow up to the shoulders, made entirely of this metal. Hollow on the inside, with holes that go through, they would have once been beautiful in their elegant simplicity. Now, they are beautiful in an entirely different way; melted out of shape, they exude strange menace.
The moth's body is covered in fluffy fur, mostly black with patterns of white and red - a thick scruff of bright red fluff surrounds their neck. Their face is a sheer white, aside from ritual scars. They faintly pulse red, and seem to extend across their entire body. Their eyes are vivid crimson, though a glow of golden orange shines from within.
They wear their wings around their body like a cloak, and seem to possess no other equipment or clothing. However, a few feet behind them, two large gauntlets made of the same scorched metal as their arms float. They hang down as if they were idle hands. They look deadly.
"What was your actual name? I've already forgotten. Oh, you asked my name right?"
They smile. Oh, dear, the moth has a mouth with teeth. Their voice is soft, with tones of something distantly hypnotic, but they speak with barely restrained energy.
"I'm Inferno."
[Images below cut! Art of Inferno, and an image of the kind of moth they are :3]
Art by @morphologist, my lovely friend and amazing artist, who you can also find at their toyhouse
Cecropia moth!!! The kind Inferno is meant to be :3
Dew wakes to consciousness within a cage on wheels.
He's being dragged by a handful of Legion bugs. They are moving as part of one great caravan. Two heavily armored warriors with hooked polearms flank the cage.
As he stirs, a fluffy head and two red eyes peek down, hanging upside down from above.
"Hello. You're the Green Silence, right? You look less impressive than I expected."
"Ughhhhh..."
Dew is slow to wake up, trying to get a grip on their current reality.
Good, you're awake. I was beginning to think you were dead.
They'd know immediately if he was dead, and they know this. They take a look around the cage. Any idea where they currently are?
A cage.
Yeah no shit, but where are they being taken to?
If I were to take a guess? Probably the Legion's base.
Dew notices the fluffy head and backs away, instinctively reaching for weapons that were not there.
[Now Playing.]
Grimm finds himself on a floor of fabric. There is a tugging in his soul; something isn’t right. A realm usually full of bustling Grimmkin and firelight is empty. Where is Incubo?
He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.
Most felines land on their paws. Crimson, despite notably not being a cat, was not the exception to this rule, crashing straight to the floor and also screaming in sheer panic. Luckily for them, the notion of landing on all four paws helped with the shock a little bit.
They don't even have time to point at Spotlight in equal confusion before following their line of sight to Grimm.
GRIMM!
They reflexively make a bolt to him in an effort to make sure he's okay, scrambling to actually properly run on TWO paws instead of all four like some kind of creature running up the stairs.
Grimm, you good?! Are you okay?- They quickly shake their head to properly get their thoughts in order. Are you hurt?
Unfortunately, despite becoming more and more feline due to the Curse, Scarlet is not as lucky as Crimson is. In fact, she ends up faceplanting onto the fabric.
"NYAUGH, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Groaning, Scarlet slowly stands up, using her firenail as support. As she glances around, she notices Spotlight and Crimson, as well as...
"...Oh you've GOT to be SHITTING ME."
The one person they wanted to see the least, lying on the floor.
Grimm gently presses on Crimson’s head like one would to keep a cat away from their food. “I am fine, Crimson. Just a bit startled.”
He heaves a sigh upon hearing Scarlet’s reaction, instead turning to Spotlight. “You are all here. I do not know who or what summoned us but—”
The air he breathes grows heavy for a moment, a shudder wracking him. In a flash, so short he can hardly tell it happens, a smell tinged with essence engulfs him.
The droning whine from Crimson is more felt than heard, but they relent, and back up to let Spotlight have room. Perhaps Spotlight has a better frame of reference?
Not like they had much of a reference regarding the Grimm Troupe. Being raised by wolves does that, unfortunately.
Don't think about that. They look over to Scarlet, trying to gauge off of what they knew and also their sibling's reaction to the surroundings.
An arctic breeze. Thunderstorm rain. Burning forests. A field of dandielions.
All these smells and more filled Scarlet’s senses, as well as the overwhelming presence of nightmare essence all around the air. Faintly, Scarlet could sense Spotlight’s dream essence.
Wait. How are they able to smell all of this? How can they even sense essence?
“Something is not right. We need to keep moving.”
In the distance, a silhouette shoots long, fabric tendrils into the ceiling and flies up like a puppet on a string.
In its wake is something baring the shape of a burlap sack.
[Spotlight notices the figure in the distance and immediately draws their nail. Eyes made of fire appear in all four of Spotlight eye sockets and display a look of fear and determination]
Spotlight's warning gives Crimson enough time to tear their focus off of Scarlet, and onto what they're seeing. They're wary, cloak bristling slightly. Something along the lines of be willing to fight rings out in the back of their head - a secondary warning, built for the worst case.
They couldn't tell if there were any thorns in the area, but they slowly back up. They debate on whether a weapon would be needed or not, then decides against it. They'd probably need it later, and it's too soon to call the dreamnail in play. For now, they slowly back up, keeping themselves as low to the ground as possible, cloak bristling further.
Grimm steps closer and drags the sack over. It’s a Grimmkin: devoid of essence. The Bad Feeling leads away from it and into the ‘sky’ like a trail of footprints.
Hunted? What could possibly hunt us here? There’s only us, The Grimmkins, and The Nightmare-
[Spotlight freezes immediately upon thinking of The Nightmare King hunting them down. The flames in their eyes go wide in fear as they remember the encounters they’ve had with them]
[Suddenly, the flames show a more determined expression as they ready their nail and conjure another fireball in their free claw. They didn’t know for certain why they were here, nor why everyone present is potentially being hunted by The Nightmare King, but what Spotlight did know was that this was a chance to avenge a friend of their’s: Tracker.]
Crimson sees Spotlight preparing to fight, and has a moment of mental dissonance.
Wha- hey hey hey what- what are you doing. Why are we immediately willing to pick a fight uhm.
They quiet down, really not wanting to get the most bombastic side-eyes from literally everyone.
Can- we talk about this, uhm… sir? Bestie, even? Can we talk about this? Can we maybe not have this come to blows? Please?
Despite their wariness, they're still willing to try to at least come to some form of understanding before trying out stabbing.
The insult cuts Grimm deeply, but he has no right to chide Scarlet. The Bad Feeling stirs the air as something serpentine drags its way out of the shadows.
Grimm can hardly smell anything past the smoke as eight red eyes light up the dark. Something weighs at the bottom of his soul before being crushed under bestial hunger.
Incubo remains somewhat shadowed but his presence is made clear. Suddenly everyone is very, very afraid.
Grimm can hardly hear himself shout “RUN!” before he’s sprinting away. The walls tighten, forming a maze. And the Minotaur is right behind the group.
[Spotlight’s scar shines a bright red in Incubo’s presence as they begin to breathe rapidly. The rising fear caused their stance to falter, the grip on their nail to slack. and the flame in their claw to dim as they take a few small steps back]
[However, they didn’t run. They still kept their nail drawn and the flame alive, but their stance was still weak. Weak enough for anyone to drag them away]
Crimson almost initially backs up to run, cloak and fur bristling, and then is VERY painfully aware that Spotlight is going to be a potential casualty if they are left behind. They have next to no time to gauge their options, so they quickly latch their paws into their arm, claws digging as they try to get Spotlight to START MOVING.
DID YOU NOT HEAR- RUN!
Their voice is a pained mix of what a leader should sound like and the equivalent of a terrified cat, snapping teeth at Scarlet to ALSO start moving, quickly bolting after Grimm. SURELY he knows a way OUT, right? RIGHT?
The beast looks down at its prey, eyes beaming down. It stretches its malformed maw and attempts to bite Scarlet half-heartedly. But before its teeth can make contact Grimm pulls her away with his wings.
He somehow manages to keep pace with the others despite this little setback.
“I told you to run!”
The beast takes one giant stride for every three steps they take. They’re being herded like roaches.
[Spotlight was still being dragged by Crimson. They kept their nail drawn just in case, but now they were more focused on getting the hell out of here]
[At some point, they try to Void Walk so they could run without being dragged, but they couldn’t use Void for some reason…]
Wh-what…
[They tried again, but nothing happened. So they just decided to continue running without being dragged Crimson’s paw still latched onto their arm]
Eventually they do let go of Spotlight's arm, mostly to point at Scarlet.
SCARLET I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GODS ARE OUT THERE I- MMMMMMM-
They have to physically avoid shaking her, and the second there's a corner they practically bound right off of it to shave off a few seconds, rolling for a little bit before scrambling back up to keep up. They debated on whether not they could hypothetically deter the current issue with loud noises, they could get the designated fox scream down fairly okay, but they really didn't want to do that overall. In fact, they'd rather watch to try to get a better idea on how to solve this particular issue. Preferably from a distance, but that's beside the point.
Could burrowing be an option? Could they even dig through fabric fast enough to do that, let alone enough to fit everyone? Was it going to hurt Incubo? WHY ARE THEY THINKING ABOUT THAT?
They almost lag behind to test that by focusing a bit more on the fabric underneath them, then decides nope! Not Doing That! and manages to catch up.
[Now Playing.]
Grimm finds himself on a floor of fabric. There is a tugging in his soul; something isn’t right. A realm usually full of bustling Grimmkin and firelight is empty. Where is Incubo?
He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.
Most felines land on their paws. Crimson, despite notably not being a cat, was not the exception to this rule, crashing straight to the floor and also screaming in sheer panic. Luckily for them, the notion of landing on all four paws helped with the shock a little bit.
They don't even have time to point at Spotlight in equal confusion before following their line of sight to Grimm.
GRIMM!
They reflexively make a bolt to him in an effort to make sure he's okay, scrambling to actually properly run on TWO paws instead of all four like some kind of creature running up the stairs.
Grimm, you good?! Are you okay?- They quickly shake their head to properly get their thoughts in order. Are you hurt?
Unfortunately, despite becoming more and more feline due to the Curse, Scarlet is not as lucky as Crimson is. In fact, she ends up faceplanting onto the fabric.
"NYAUGH, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Groaning, Scarlet slowly stands up, using her firenail as support. As she glances around, she notices Spotlight and Crimson, as well as...
"...Oh you've GOT to be SHITTING ME."
The one person they wanted to see the least, lying on the floor.
Grimm gently presses on Crimson’s head like one would to keep a cat away from their food. “I am fine, Crimson. Just a bit startled.”
He heaves a sigh upon hearing Scarlet’s reaction, instead turning to Spotlight. “You are all here. I do not know who or what summoned us but—”
The air he breathes grows heavy for a moment, a shudder wracking him. In a flash, so short he can hardly tell it happens, a smell tinged with essence engulfs him.
The droning whine from Crimson is more felt than heard, but they relent, and back up to let Spotlight have room. Perhaps Spotlight has a better frame of reference?
Not like they had much of a reference regarding the Grimm Troupe. Being raised by wolves does that, unfortunately.
Don't think about that. They look over to Scarlet, trying to gauge off of what they knew and also their sibling's reaction to the surroundings.
An arctic breeze. Thunderstorm rain. Burning forests. A field of dandielions.
All these smells and more filled Scarlet’s senses, as well as the overwhelming presence of nightmare essence all around the air. Faintly, Scarlet could sense Spotlight’s dream essence.
Wait. How are they able to smell all of this? How can they even sense essence?
“Something is not right. We need to keep moving.”
In the distance, a silhouette shoots long, fabric tendrils into the ceiling and flies up like a puppet on a string.
In its wake is something baring the shape of a burlap sack.
[Spotlight notices the figure in the distance and immediately draws their nail. Eyes made of fire appear in all four of Spotlight eye sockets and display a look of fear and determination]
Spotlight's warning gives Crimson enough time to tear their focus off of Scarlet, and onto what they're seeing. They're wary, cloak bristling slightly. Something along the lines of be willing to fight rings out in the back of their head - a secondary warning, built for the worst case.
They couldn't tell if there were any thorns in the area, but they slowly back up. They debate on whether a weapon would be needed or not, then decides against it. They'd probably need it later, and it's too soon to call the dreamnail in play. For now, they slowly back up, keeping themselves as low to the ground as possible, cloak bristling further.
Grimm steps closer and drags the sack over. It’s a Grimmkin: devoid of essence. The Bad Feeling leads away from it and into the ‘sky’ like a trail of footprints.
Hunted? What could possibly hunt us here? There’s only us, The Grimmkins, and The Nightmare-
[Spotlight freezes immediately upon thinking of The Nightmare King hunting them down. The flames in their eyes go wide in fear as they remember the encounters they’ve had with them]
[Suddenly, the flames show a more determined expression as they ready their nail and conjure another fireball in their free claw. They didn’t know for certain why they were here, nor why everyone present is potentially being hunted by The Nightmare King, but what Spotlight did know was that this was a chance to avenge a friend of their’s: Tracker.]
Crimson sees Spotlight preparing to fight, and has a moment of mental dissonance.
Wha- hey hey hey what- what are you doing. Why are we immediately willing to pick a fight uhm.
They quiet down, really not wanting to get the most bombastic side-eyes from literally everyone.
Can- we talk about this, uhm… sir? Bestie, even? Can we talk about this? Can we maybe not have this come to blows? Please?
Despite their wariness, they're still willing to try to at least come to some form of understanding before trying out stabbing.
The insult cuts Grimm deeply, but he has no right to chide Scarlet. The Bad Feeling stirs the air as something serpentine drags its way out of the shadows.
Grimm can hardly smell anything past the smoke as eight red eyes light up the dark. Something weighs at the bottom of his soul before being crushed under bestial hunger.
Incubo remains somewhat shadowed but his presence is made clear. Suddenly everyone is very, very afraid.
Grimm can hardly hear himself shout “RUN!” before he’s sprinting away. The walls tighten, forming a maze. And the Minotaur is right behind the group.
[Spotlight’s scar shines a bright red in Incubo’s presence as they begin to breathe rapidly. The rising fear caused their stance to falter, the grip on their nail to slack. and the flame in their claw to dim as they take a few small steps back]
[However, they didn’t run. They still kept their nail drawn and the flame alive, but their stance was still weak. Weak enough for anyone to drag them away]
Crimson almost initially backs up to run, cloak and fur bristling, and then is VERY painfully aware that Spotlight is going to be a potential casualty if they are left behind. They have next to no time to gauge their options, so they quickly latch their paws into their arm, claws digging as they try to get Spotlight to START MOVING.
DID YOU NOT HEAR- RUN!
Their voice is a pained mix of what a leader should sound like and the equivalent of a terrified cat, snapping teeth at Scarlet to ALSO start moving, quickly bolting after Grimm. SURELY he knows a way OUT, right? RIGHT?
[Now Playing.]
Grimm finds himself on a floor of fabric. There is a tugging in his soul; something isn’t right. A realm usually full of bustling Grimmkin and firelight is empty. Where is Incubo?
He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.
Most felines land on their paws. Crimson, despite notably not being a cat, was not the exception to this rule, crashing straight to the floor and also screaming in sheer panic. Luckily for them, the notion of landing on all four paws helped with the shock a little bit.
They don't even have time to point at Spotlight in equal confusion before following their line of sight to Grimm.
GRIMM!
They reflexively make a bolt to him in an effort to make sure he's okay, scrambling to actually properly run on TWO paws instead of all four like some kind of creature running up the stairs.
Grimm, you good?! Are you okay?- They quickly shake their head to properly get their thoughts in order. Are you hurt?
Unfortunately, despite becoming more and more feline due to the Curse, Scarlet is not as lucky as Crimson is. In fact, she ends up faceplanting onto the fabric.
"NYAUGH, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Groaning, Scarlet slowly stands up, using her firenail as support. As she glances around, she notices Spotlight and Crimson, as well as...
"...Oh you've GOT to be SHITTING ME."
The one person they wanted to see the least, lying on the floor.
Grimm gently presses on Crimson’s head like one would to keep a cat away from their food. “I am fine, Crimson. Just a bit startled.”
He heaves a sigh upon hearing Scarlet’s reaction, instead turning to Spotlight. “You are all here. I do not know who or what summoned us but—”
The air he breathes grows heavy for a moment, a shudder wracking him. In a flash, so short he can hardly tell it happens, a smell tinged with essence engulfs him.
The droning whine from Crimson is more felt than heard, but they relent, and back up to let Spotlight have room. Perhaps Spotlight has a better frame of reference?
Not like they had much of a reference regarding the Grimm Troupe. Being raised by wolves does that, unfortunately.
Don't think about that. They look over to Scarlet, trying to gauge off of what they knew and also their sibling's reaction to the surroundings.
An arctic breeze. Thunderstorm rain. Burning forests. A field of dandielions.
All these smells and more filled Scarlet’s senses, as well as the overwhelming presence of nightmare essence all around the air. Faintly, Scarlet could sense Spotlight’s dream essence.
Wait. How are they able to smell all of this? How can they even sense essence?
“Something is not right. We need to keep moving.”
In the distance, a silhouette shoots long, fabric tendrils into the ceiling and flies up like a puppet on a string.
In its wake is something baring the shape of a burlap sack.
[Spotlight notices the figure in the distance and immediately draws their nail. Eyes made of fire appear in all four of Spotlight eye sockets and display a look of fear and determination]
Spotlight's warning gives Crimson enough time to tear their focus off of Scarlet, and onto what they're seeing. They're wary, cloak bristling slightly. Something along the lines of be willing to fight rings out in the back of their head - a secondary warning, built for the worst case.
They couldn't tell if there were any thorns in the area, but they slowly back up. They debate on whether a weapon would be needed or not, then decides against it. They'd probably need it later, and it's too soon to call the dreamnail in play. For now, they slowly back up, keeping themselves as low to the ground as possible, cloak bristling further.
Grimm steps closer and drags the sack over. It’s a Grimmkin: devoid of essence. The Bad Feeling leads away from it and into the ‘sky’ like a trail of footprints.
Hunted? What could possibly hunt us here? There’s only us, The Grimmkins, and The Nightmare-
[Spotlight freezes immediately upon thinking of The Nightmare King hunting them down. The flames in their eyes go wide in fear as they remember the encounters they’ve had with them]
[Suddenly, the flames show a more determined expression as they ready their nail and conjure another fireball in their free claw. They didn’t know for certain why they were here, nor why everyone present is potentially being hunted by The Nightmare King, but what Spotlight did know was that this was a chance to avenge a friend of their’s: Tracker.]
Crimson sees Spotlight preparing to fight, and has a moment of mental dissonance.
Wha- hey hey hey what- what are you doing. Why are we immediately willing to pick a fight uhm.
They quiet down, really not wanting to get the most bombastic side-eyes from literally everyone.
Can- we talk about this, uhm… sir? Bestie, even? Can we talk about this? Can we maybe not have this come to blows? Please?
Despite their wariness, they're still willing to try to at least come to some form of understanding before trying out stabbing.
[Now Playing.]
Grimm finds himself on a floor of fabric. There is a tugging in his soul; something isn’t right. A realm usually full of bustling Grimmkin and firelight is empty. Where is Incubo?
He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.
Most felines land on their paws. Crimson, despite notably not being a cat, was not the exception to this rule, crashing straight to the floor and also screaming in sheer panic. Luckily for them, the notion of landing on all four paws helped with the shock a little bit.
They don't even have time to point at Spotlight in equal confusion before following their line of sight to Grimm.
GRIMM!
They reflexively make a bolt to him in an effort to make sure he's okay, scrambling to actually properly run on TWO paws instead of all four like some kind of creature running up the stairs.
Grimm, you good?! Are you okay?- They quickly shake their head to properly get their thoughts in order. Are you hurt?
Unfortunately, despite becoming more and more feline due to the Curse, Scarlet is not as lucky as Crimson is. In fact, she ends up faceplanting onto the fabric.
"NYAUGH, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Groaning, Scarlet slowly stands up, using her firenail as support. As she glances around, she notices Spotlight and Crimson, as well as...
"...Oh you've GOT to be SHITTING ME."
The one person they wanted to see the least, lying on the floor.
Grimm gently presses on Crimson’s head like one would to keep a cat away from their food. “I am fine, Crimson. Just a bit startled.”
He heaves a sigh upon hearing Scarlet’s reaction, instead turning to Spotlight. “You are all here. I do not know who or what summoned us but—”
The air he breathes grows heavy for a moment, a shudder wracking him. In a flash, so short he can hardly tell it happens, a smell tinged with essence engulfs him.
The droning whine from Crimson is more felt than heard, but they relent, and back up to let Spotlight have room. Perhaps Spotlight has a better frame of reference?
Not like they had much of a reference regarding the Grimm Troupe. Being raised by wolves does that, unfortunately.
Don't think about that. They look over to Scarlet, trying to gauge off of what they knew and also their sibling's reaction to the surroundings.
An arctic breeze. Thunderstorm rain. Burning forests. A field of dandielions.
All these smells and more filled Scarlet’s senses, as well as the overwhelming presence of nightmare essence all around the air. Faintly, Scarlet could sense Spotlight’s dream essence.
Wait. How are they able to smell all of this? How can they even sense essence?
“Something is not right. We need to keep moving.”
In the distance, a silhouette shoots long, fabric tendrils into the ceiling and flies up like a puppet on a string.
In its wake is something baring the shape of a burlap sack.
[Spotlight notices the figure in the distance and immediately draws their nail. Eyes made of fire appear in all four of Spotlight eye sockets and display a look of fear and determination]
Spotlight's warning gives Crimson enough time to tear their focus off of Scarlet, and onto what they're seeing. They're wary, cloak bristling slightly. Something along the lines of be willing to fight rings out in the back of their head - a secondary warning, built for the worst case.
They couldn't tell if there were any thorns in the area, but they slowly back up. They debate on whether a weapon would be needed or not, then decides against it. They'd probably need it later, and it's too soon to call the dreamnail in play. For now, they slowly back up, keeping themselves as low to the ground as possible, cloak bristling further.
[Now Playing.]
Grimm finds himself on a floor of fabric. There is a tugging in his soul; something isn’t right. A realm usually full of bustling Grimmkin and firelight is empty. Where is Incubo?
He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.
Most felines land on their paws. Crimson, despite notably not being a cat, was not the exception to this rule, crashing straight to the floor and also screaming in sheer panic. Luckily for them, the notion of landing on all four paws helped with the shock a little bit.
They don't even have time to point at Spotlight in equal confusion before following their line of sight to Grimm.
GRIMM!
They reflexively make a bolt to him in an effort to make sure he's okay, scrambling to actually properly run on TWO paws instead of all four like some kind of creature running up the stairs.
Grimm, you good?! Are you okay?- They quickly shake their head to properly get their thoughts in order. Are you hurt?
Unfortunately, despite becoming more and more feline due to the Curse, Scarlet is not as lucky as Crimson is. In fact, she ends up faceplanting onto the fabric.
"NYAUGH, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Groaning, Scarlet slowly stands up, using her firenail as support. As she glances around, she notices Spotlight and Crimson, as well as...
"...Oh you've GOT to be SHITTING ME."
The one person they wanted to see the least, lying on the floor.
Grimm gently presses on Crimson’s head like one would to keep a cat away from their food. “I am fine, Crimson. Just a bit startled.”
He heaves a sigh upon hearing Scarlet’s reaction, instead turning to Spotlight. “You are all here. I do not know who or what summoned us but—”
The air he breathes grows heavy for a moment, a shudder wracking him. In a flash, so short he can hardly tell it happens, a smell tinged with essence engulfs him.
The droning whine from Crimson is more felt than heard, but they relent, and back up to let Spotlight have room. Perhaps Spotlight has a better frame of reference?
Not like they had much of a reference regarding the Grimm Troupe. Being raised by wolves does that, unfortunately.
Don't think about that. They look over to Scarlet, trying to gauge off of what they knew and also their sibling's reaction to the surroundings.
An arctic breeze. Thunderstorm rain. Burning forests. A field of dandielions.
All these smells and more filled Scarlet’s senses, as well as the overwhelming presence of nightmare essence all around the air. Faintly, Scarlet could sense Spotlight’s dream essence.
Wait. How are they able to smell all of this? How can they even sense essence?
[Now Playing.]
Grimm finds himself on a floor of fabric. There is a tugging in his soul; something isn’t right. A realm usually full of bustling Grimmkin and firelight is empty. Where is Incubo?
He is alone no longer as Spotlight, Crimson, and Scarlet come tumbling in. Grimm cannot bring himself to speak yet.
Most felines land on their paws. Crimson, despite notably not being a cat, was not the exception to this rule, crashing straight to the floor and also screaming in sheer panic. Luckily for them, the notion of landing on all four paws helped with the shock a little bit.
They don't even have time to point at Spotlight in equal confusion before following their line of sight to Grimm.
GRIMM!
They reflexively make a bolt to him in an effort to make sure he's okay, scrambling to actually properly run on TWO paws instead of all four like some kind of creature running up the stairs.
Grimm, you good?! Are you okay?- They quickly shake their head to properly get their thoughts in order. Are you hurt?
Unfortunately, despite becoming more and more feline due to the Curse, Scarlet is not as lucky as Crimson is. In fact, she ends up faceplanting onto the fabric.
"NYAUGH, MOTHERFUCKER!"
Groaning, Scarlet slowly stands up, using her firenail as support. As she glances around, she notices Spotlight and Crimson, as well as...
"...Oh you've GOT to be SHITTING ME."
The one person they wanted to see the least, lying on the floor.
Dew shambles across the ruins of the City of Steel, or at least what everyone thought was the City of Steel.
How pathetic...the once grand Zenith District, falling to a few explosives...what in the hells did that Wyrm do to this District?
Dew does not ponder on Chalybs' words, as he simply focuses on trying to find somewhere, anywhere to hunker down and heal. He is bleeding from his mouth, and coughing more and more, on top of his already existent wounds. If anyone were to ambush him, he would easily fall to any foes.
-@scarlet-and-dew
(The ruins are being utterly pillaged.)
(Ironclad bugs swarm over what's left, sifting through for valuables and for survivors. Massive bugs are lifting up as much metal as possible to be brought back to field smelters.)
(Wicker statues have been erected, within which caught Steel Sentinels are being burned. Beyond the ruins there is a great deal of howling, chatter and feasting. The bugs are celebrating a successful conquest.)
(The dead Ironclad bugs are being carefully pulled away, so that they can be eaten.)
(If Dew isn't careful, he could be caught.)
Dew immediately curses under his breath upon seeing the familiar sigil and armor of the Ironclad, diving behind some rubble as to not be seen. The hell is the Ironclad Legion doing here?
Doing what all other scavengers do: swooping into the chaos and picking away at the scraps. It would probably be best to avoid them this time. Neither of us wish for a repeat of Moorlane.
...Dew quickly looks over his cover, trying to see if there's anyone or anything in the patrols that stands out, as well as trying to study those patrols.
The patrols are well armed, and seem to be going through the ruins in sections, each patrol assigned to a different one.
Leading one of the patrols is a tall, lean Karak bug. She looks somewhat like a much tall and somewhat larger Kakri, but one without wings. Her shell is scorched black, and painted red with ritual markings.
She holds her hands in front of her, gesturing, causing stone to move and shift the metal. She appears to be the one directing this search.
Shit. Dew quickly ducks back down. This is a completely new person that he doesn't recognize. Who is that?
It appears that there's been a change in command since we last encountered them.
Yeah no shit, this person is clearly important. How important, they can’t be sure.
There is no room for us to try and sneak past them. Perhaps we should turn around.
At this point, the Ironclad would most likely have surrounded the place. The only way out is through. Dew stumbles out from behind the rubble, shooting three times at the soldiers. All three shots miss, but he still charges at the Kakri with his nail.
Deikora has been leading the scavenging of this vast, metal corpse.
It is a job she takes no small amount of satisfaction in. Picking through the remains of a conquest and finding all that can be taken and used for the Legion requires a great deal of methodical, efficient work, work that she has perfected.
Once this is done, she will report back to Alys. She finds herself with no small amount of anxiety over this; why should she have any? She has done this for as long as she has been part of the command, and her efforts have never been found lacking before. Perhaps it is the way that her Ironclad Lady has been acting which has been causing her such feelings. Alys is so intent on proving herself with this, and she has been stressed as a result. It seems likely that this is...
... She's interrupted by her thoughts when she's charged by a mantis.
She meets the strike with her forearm, deflecting it, and stomps on the ground. A pillar of stone shoves her attacker away.
So, a survivor of the battle has decided their best bet for continued life is fighting? Stupid.
She leaps atop the pillar of stone to look down on the mantis. Her patrol all stand in a loose circle around the area, prepared to close in and kill the fool at a word from her.
She looks down with a haughty stare.
"What fool decides that they'd rather find their death at our claws than starvation this day? Name yourself, lowly bug. You stand before Deikora, General of the Ironclad Legion."
The pillar smacks Dew right in the gut, sending him tumbling to the ground. He struggles to get up, coughing up blood. His left eye is glowing a bright gold.
“…You know who I am.”
They raise their cannon to fire…
…And that’s when he collapses to the ground. It’s clear that he was running on fumes, and now they’ve run out.
The hunting route recently shifted back to Greymoor - for the main group, at least. With the hunt being a priority, the route was already planned out almost days in advance and, as far as everyone was aware, should have gone smoothly. Or, as smoothly as a hunting party aimed to mitigate a curse.
..Up until Crimson slipped too close near, with everyone almost slowing down directly behind, listening intently at first. Was that…
The very faint sound of accordion- and, like moth to flame, Crimson recognized it quickly. Perhaps too quickly.
Above the sound of a constant downpour, Crimson pulled Wolf along to further investigate (with Fox insisting to come along, with Wispspark close behind).
For anyone else part of the Troupe, what would have been probably seen through heavy rain is Crimson very much standing very still (were they debating on what to do? Were they looking for a direct confirmation that they weren't in fact seeing things?), two vessels, and one very soggy fox.
(hi it's @wolf-and-fox hiiii waves excitedly) ))
“We have been over this countless times. Yes, I could stack the deck with ease, but I did not do it, Cynthia!”
Grimm holds his hands up innocently outside the main tent. Beside him, a weaver scolds, she looks and sounds old.
“You would lie to me and cheat while playing Hearts! ‘I also see myself as somewhat of a magician.’ That is what you said to me one of the first times we spoke!”
“Does that imply that I cheat in cards games??”
Amusingly to him, Grimm’s face gets a swat. Neither of them notice the group in the distance.
Crimson kept the rest of their group behind them (much to Wolf's low growl of confusion), very cautiously encroaching closer within conversation distance with the silence that you'd expect from a hunting cat. Which is then promptly broken by a very frantic shaking of rain off of them, sparking off a low whine sounding, before it formed into a short howl of- some form of greeting.
Crimson proceeded to instantaneously regret the howling from them, freezing on the spot and watching very intensely, gauging anything further while their brain was in the process of both being very stuck in a thought processing loop and going almost a mile a minute - mostly gauging if they recognized anyone in the opposite group.
Too much? Too much. They are- scarily quiet, though that would be very quickly less of scarily and more of an attempt to figure out just how to phrase words, shaking off more rain off of them.
Bit soggy out here, yeah? Also why were you two arguing?
They don't- sound angry? If anything it's like they're trying to control their volume to not sound too overly curious.
Crimson almost startles, head tilting. The question almost- appears to have thrown them for a loop, but they quietly step forward (apparently this is just a thing they do), trying to make themselves look less like the equivalent of a stray cat. With the rain, it is.. very much not working.
I, uhm- hi I'm Crimson, uhm… I'm with them.
They gesture with a paw to the rest of their group off to their side, almost looking like they wanted to elaborate more before deciding against it and instead shuffling their outstretched paw to tug a bit at their cloak.
The second everyone manages to get into one of the tents (with Crimson immediately telling Wolf and Fox to not pull something silly), everyone's immediate focus was almost instantly changed to getting dried off from the heavy rain, and also to make sure Wispspark would be okay if left alone. Crimson does respond though, after the initial shake.
Y- yeah, that's- an accurate observation. M' a Grimmchild, promise. Wolf's my primary guardian.
Crimson awkwardly gestures to Wolf, who is very focused on literally anything else BUT the current conversation. Crimson themselves sounds- almost hesitant on the matter, despite telling the truth.
Could Crimson also be related to the Grimm that houses Incubo? Their forms are quite different, but who knows what is possible.
Grimm bows his head to Wolf respectfully. “So you are a Grimmchild. You are not the first I have met, so I do wonder what you know about your biological father. It is.. not me, of course.”
Crimson quietly fidgets with their paws almost methodically, with Wolf giving THE fastest thumbs up of all time in the same span of time it takes for Crimson to fully come up with something that could passably be a sentence.
He's uh.. he's cool, yeah. Only really properly met him after my sibling got bit really bad and got the same issue Fox does- Crimson almost gets sidetracked for a second in an effort to defend Fox's credibility on their biting, but stops themselves almost seconds before, -but I think he wants to… be there in some way, I don't know.
It was… tricky, to properly describe him- unbiased. Early memories were nearly untrustworthy, but they didn't outright say that. Or, more accurately, as bluntly as possible.
Wolf and I traveled a lot in my early years, and I was being taken care of mostly by Wolf's group when I wasn't doing that, so I didn't really.. visit often before the whole bite incident.
That felt safe enough to say for now.
Don't.. don't tell Scarlet, I don't even know how accurate sibling is at this point- or if they're even okay with that.
Scarlet! Scarlet and Crimson are siblings! Grimm had met them and their father within such a short amount of time. What are the odds? What was it about Pharloom that causes him to meet all sorts of unique bugs?
“Yes! It was Scarlet! I met your father, and Scarlet, and now you!”
Crimson almost shrinks back out of sheer bafflement, trying to click together pieces in their head, but the internal surge of hope overpowered that particular question with more pressing matters.
Wait- you saw them? Are they okay? More importantly, are they alive?
They forgot to keep their voice at their usual volume, equally being startled by just how much hope and concern they could somehow put in their own voice.
Crimson seemed nice. Grimm wanted to comfort them.
“Yes. Both are alive. I offered Scarlet food and rest when we met, and I have met with Grimm multiple times. He and I are quite different, yet good friends.”
It’s probably best if he didn’t bring up the conflict between Incubo, Grimm, and Scarlet.
Crimson, despite the earlier bafflement, looked- genuinely invested in this. They almost looked equally overjoyed at the notion that Scarlet was alive and doing moderately okay. That was a potential crisis narrowly dodged, to them.
The best noise they could make was a droning warble for a few seconds, before finding the proper words.
It's good to hear that you three- I think?- are doing alright, yeah. Just… overall.
They quietly fidget with their paws, thinking.
Crimson's head snaps back up, trying to focus back in on the conversation.
A- you're all good! Just- thinking, is a-
During the entire time they were talking, they had been exploring around, sniffing at the air every now and then…
And freezes on the spot once they properly recognize, slowly backing away in the same way someone would in an attempt to not wake up a roommate.
Scarlet had been basically staring at the ceiling the entire time, thinking back on the events of yesterday. When Crimson and the other Grimm come by, she slowly turns her head toward them.
“Oh…hey Other Grimm. And-”
Scarlet notices Crimson, almost immediately sitting up.
Crimson almost entirely freezes. They- did not know genuinely, frantically waving a paw behind them (mostly to make sure the rest of the group knew what was going on).
It was soggy outside.
GOOD ENOUGH. They quickly shake their head and points at Scarlet in sheer bafflement with a bonus of a nearly 45 degree head tilt.
I thought you were at Far Fields?
The vaguely puffed out cloak smooths back down a bit as Crimson listens to the best of their ability.
Stars, Scarlet, I am so sorry.
They shuffle to fidget with their cloak.
Fox's doing better I think, we've been going off on a hunting route that I've been.. on and off working on. Wispspark's been helping them a little bit on feeling better on playfighting, since they haven't done that since the- Curse incident. Kinda miss it, to be fair.
Crimson's fidgeting slowly wavers.
Do you- need anything to.. recover from that? That must have been.. rough, and I want to help.
"Nah...nah it's good, I'm fine. I expected it honestly, not like I was ever really good at keeping romantic partners. Hell I couldn't even keep Dew as a romantic partner. Granted, we still do what you'd call romantic stuff, but we're not officially together or anything."
Scarlet breathes in, and out.
"Sorry, brought the mood down again. Anyways, want some food? This other Grimm has some delicious pastries!"
Fox immediately tilts their head to look over.
Bad. It's bad.
Crimson quietly shuffles to pick up a pastry, gesturing to Fox and nodding.
Yeah, it's… not great. Near-constant drain of essence, requiring frequent hunts to manage to satiate it. Fox's been subject to… several not great changes due to it, but we've been kinda collectively working on a hunting route to at the very least ease it if not eventually undo it.
Fox nods in confirmation of Crimson's best attempt at explaining what's going on, vessel snout scrunching in mild bitter anger. The second mouth sucked, and they'd like to not have it anymore.
“I wish I could help rid you of your curse, but curses of that nature are not something my abilities cover. I excel marvellously in specific areas, this.. is not one.”
Grimm looked back and forth between Fox and Crimson. What could have caused the curse?
“Please, do eat. I do not know how much it will help, but it would surely not hurt.”
Crimson quietly munches into the pastry, warbling for specifically Fox to come over as well, seeing as Wolf and Wispspark were mostly just there to make sure nothing sideways happens. While Fox is eyeing anything else on hand that they could reasonably munch on, Crimson's just vibing. In fact, they almost tilt their head.
This is pretty good, yeah. They spot Fox trying to pick literally anything, and proceeds to gently offer them a second pastry - gladly accepted by Fox, taking great care in being incredibly careful on actually taking the pastry.
They're starving. They were always starving, even before the Curse. They didn't have too many flames to eat growing up-the only sibling caretaker who bothered with that became something far worse they don't have any memory of-and everything else tasted like ash until recently. They would eat in public just to be nice, but they stuck mostly to more...unconventional foods.
Grimm found that odd. Scarlet has a curse that leaves her hungry yet doesn’t feel hungry? It’s probably best not to pry. He isn’t the one who was cursed. What does he know?
“If you change your mind. It is right here for you.” He gestures to the trays.
Flames appear with a flick of Grimm’s wrist to toast the strudel he holds. He thinks back on going to The Radiance her to find help for Rosy. She knows about how to help moths with their unusual, yet.. twisted predicaments.
Don’t think about that now.
Should Grimm know how to help Grimmchildren? They aren’t his own children; there are none of those, and there never will. The only example he has is his useless self, whose body is more akin to a puppet than their living bodies. Maybe he could provide flames? He needs to keep the troupe’s livelihood in mind when doing anything like that. Regardless, unlike other bugs, Scarlet and Crimson are already of nightmarish origins. There could be unintended effects if he mixed the kind of flame his troupe gathers. The heart squirms at the thought of being unable to do anything.
Crimson's focus shifts to Grimm, watching his movements curiously - it was little movements that seemed to set them on alert. They move to pick up another pastry, before quietly speaking.
..You're thinking. Aren't you.
Wispspark specifically tilts their head to give the most curious expression alive, but decides to avoid speaking for now.
Crimson also looks fairly invested, offering Fox half of the pastry they picked up earlier (which Fox was more than happy to munch on for now.)
Uh..huh. No I get that, it's- probably important. Uhm… if it's on a tight deadline I, uh…
They trail off. They'd love to stay, but they'd feel guilty if they're holding up something.
It's here that Wispspark chimes in.
Radiance, at the time, recommended to just.. gnaw on her, but ALSO at the time there was a severe bee situation and my kin has a slight… wariness, around her.
Didn't wanna get grabbed within two seconds.
Crimson looks over. Huh. That's weird. When I accidentally visited her, there was a distinct lack of bees.
JOYOUS.
But no yeah most of it's just… hunting. Which is what a lot of us here are good at - got a hunting rotation and everything. Scarlet, ah… is learning, last I remember. Uhm, speaking of, how's hunting turning out for you?
Grimm flinches and takes a step back when he hears The Radiance’s name be spoken out of the blue. If it hadn’t been for the recent events, it would’ve been worse.
Scarlet’s words startle him back to the current discussion. It was that bad!?
“Have you eaten civilized bugs!?”
Was it a mistake to let Scarlet stay here? Would his troupe members be attacked? Why do Scarlet and Fox both have this curse? Is it contagious? He needs to get them both away from his troupe! He can’t let them be hurt!
WE'RE WORKING ON IT.
Wolf finally raises their voice, trying to be the one steady note in the entire confrontation, before exhaling.
As far as I am aware, and I was there for the initial visit, as long as we keep up on the hunting, it should be cleared. I know it's- not good, don't think I didn't see that panic. But I can tell you this.
They push move to stand alongside Scarlet and Crimson, staring right back.
We are working on it. I think the lack of stressors here has in fact done some good.
Wolf can't argue much on Scarlet's behalf, but they CAN argue for Fox.
"I've been eating prey. Prey gets eaten, right? That's how it works. We hunt the prey, and then we eat the prey. Push the hunger back that tiniest bit, until we're starving again ten minutes later. And then do it all again."
They blink, shaking her head.
"Sorry, I...dunno why I said that. But no, I haven't eaten people. Only like, one person at most."
That was more than enough. Grimm didn’t want to kick them out. He wanted to hear their stories. He wanted to hear about their experiences with the other Grimm and Incubo, but the troupe is the priority above all else.
“I believe it is best that you all move along before you attack a member of my troupe.”
The sternness in his voice could break glass. He motions to the exit.
How careless of him. Scarlet had been staying here, the troupe had been at risk, and he didn’t even realize.
Wispspark's already outta there, rallying the group together to keep back onto their hunting routes. Fox especially gives the most "you have REALLY good food by the way" thumbs up ALIVE before practically sprinting out to keep up.
It's.. only Crimson, that hesitates for a few seconds. The guilt weighs heavy in them, despite being literally Probably Not the one asked that.
Uhm.. it was nice meeting you sir, um. Stay safe out there, yeah? You're really cool.
@scarlet-and-dew
She honestly doesn't know what else she expected. Another version of Grimm meeting her? A runaway from a different Troupe, and Cursed with something she didn't even want? It was never going to work out.
She waits until the Dreambound Group leaves, then grabs her firenail and steps out of the guest tent. She takes one last look back at the Other Grimm, expression not quite discernible. Then she sprints off of the property.
