Post by Joliette Thorne on Mar 15, 2010 1:37:56 GMT -5
Shishi slowed his pace inside the fortress in order to gently push open a door before he broke into a sprint again as he headed in the direction of another dead end that teased him with views of exits and such. Outside Yellow has recently emerged from the chaotic building with Belulah attached to his back and a seven-year-old boy sized penguin that lacks white feathers on it's stomach. The boy blinks crimson eyes towards Terra and his sister, squeezing tears out involuntarily before he breaks into a dash that leads him past his sister and directly into Terra's torso, throwing his arms around the elf as he sobbed, "I saw my Mommie in there but she had no eyes! And Belulah can talk! And An elephant picked me up! And the penguin told riddles! And it was scary..."
The large and ungainly bird, which at the moment seemed composed of some smoother, gelatinous matter than the tendrilly thing it'd been at the zoo, watched the family reunion with an expression that was at the same time both stoically blank and slightly goofy. When Yellow flung himself toward the vampiress, it'd flip-flop after the lad on its webby flippers, triangular "arms" flapping slightly as it waddled past the fortress' shadow and into the ring of barren earth surrounding the newly-risen structure. Meanwhile, Shishi would find himself faced with not another dead end, but rather a room with a three-pronged exit, a single archway from which three definite and high-walled paths branched. All three were marked with carven images that'd come into clearer view as he considered each option, possibly symbols of some kind.
Terra knew not to enter. It could have been cowardly or wise motives behind that decision, didn't matter. What was important at that time was the small blonde figure that had wrapped his arms around her, summoned knees to bend and head to bow all with a single tear. Through sobs the words were picked out and with every syllable, each word, that heart of hers seemed to break just a little more. Yes, both children had been exposed to chaos and horrors prematurely but this was beyond what she had hoped for either of them to witness. Yellow's fondness for his mother and animals made the Pool that much more cruel. Blonde hair was pushed back away from Arius' tear-stained face and it seemed impossible to keep a few of her own from falling while words of reassurance were whispered and pressed against his head. It would take Orange's observation skills to draw her head upwards and gaze back towards the place where Hell itself resided. Instinct called her to draw Yellow upwards and into arms, held tightly like the child he no longer seemed to be, as she watched the progression of the thing. "Orange, if that thing gets too close, you know what to do."
Shishi maintained his breakneck pace as he entered the tri-exited room, most likely not noticing the markings for each passageway as he just sprints through the first one his crimson eyes land on. As he progresses through this first corridor the vampire an see a light at the end of the tunnel and blinks crimson eyes repeatedly as he's greeted by mid-day sunlight. At first he suspects this means he's made it out of the maze, but as the passage he exited though (or entered, it seems) dissolves and leaves him standing under leafless tree on a sunny fall day he quickly understands he hasn't escaped just yet. Far from it. He knows what he'll see when he steps around the trunk of this particular tree, but he does so anyway, tears already welling in his accursed eyes as he shakes his head... There -he- is a young boy, likely double Arius's current age, human and dark haired. His hands are colored red with dried blood, but he's sobbing into them all the same. His hoarse voice gives away the fact that he's been at this for quite some time. A small lizard climbs down the trunk of the tree behind the boy, dropping onto his shoulder somewhat abruptly. There's silence then as it seems the teenager is listening to the newt, a conversation perhaps only he could hear. Blue mouthed the words quietly as if he'd had them memorized forever, 'You're all alone, boy. What're you called.' And, as if on cue, the boy answered, "Blu-... I mean... Shishi."
Shishi 's son sniffled into Terra's shoulder, "I want to go home..." Orange did her best to remain standing, keeping en eye on the fortress and the dark penguin, muttering, "Blue and Miss Joliette are still in there..."
Lulah tugged at a lock of Yellow's hair just above his ear, chittering something at him. The boy's eyes opened wide, and levelled on Terra. "The penguin says you sometimes have to go back to go forward." The lad's brows drew to a frown. "It said that before. In there." He stopped his snuffling and jerked his small thumb toward the looming building he'd just vacated. Yet, the gelatinous and cryptic penguin made no sound of its own, only fixed its glassy eyes on the little monkey, who stared back at it. In a language only Arius could hear, she said, "He'll be alright. The fat bird has what it wants. But it's hungry." As if to demonstrate, the strange sea-fowl clacked its beak sharply. And somewhere close to the surface of the insane structure, the twins' father was doing just that-- going backwards, having instinctively chosen the door with the carven image of a lizard-like creature with deep-cut spirals for eyes. The newt crawled closer to a younger Blue's ear. "How'd you hurt your lip, Shishi?"
Terra had become a mother by marriage and there no was no leather-bound parchments that explained how to become one to two twins who stood outside of a fallen Headquarters while their father was locked inside. There was no amount of inspirational teaching or vows or ... anything, really. This went above and beyond the woman’s head. Yellow was gripped all that much tighter while a few fingers continued to comb back through his hair. And Orange. That poor child was so exhausted after the night's events, allowing motivation to be sought in the form of a mantra muttered into the air. Yellow spoke then, so near to her pointed ear that she nearly startled enough to drop him. "The penguin says-" it started off with skepticism until she recalled where they were. where he had been. On his two feet she'd place him with a hand hovered just off to the side, far enough away from Lulah and her knack of hair-pulling. "Yellow... you can hear the penguin? Can you ask it where Blue is?" There's a gentle sense of urgency to those two questions as she looked towards the boy, waiting until he was composed further and well off to answer the inquiries. Frankly, their presence was the only thing that kept her from entering the place with little regard to consequence. The Pool had Blue, after all.
Mahri had had just about enough. For the last few days something kept niggling the back of her mind, drawing up the hairs at the nape of her neck. Sometimes, being connected so intimately to that which kept the universe in balance could be a tad annoying. In this case it might also be a saving grace. She hadn't been back to what ~had~ been a pile of rubble since she'd first contemplated...well, that's the past and not something she cared much to remember. Now things were changed and that's what's noticed long before the blonde, Colors and the inky black penguin. Shuddering lightly, silver-gray eyes drag themselves off the spectacle to finally find Terra and the kids. Reach up, the sprite gets a flick of her fingers which wakes her. Poor thing thought she deserved the rest after harrowing captivity. "Go t'the Corpse, River." Determined steps take her to Terra and, in a quiet voice, the question is posed while a nearly sleeping Orange is gathered into her own arms, "What in all the hells is goin' on here? I thought that thing was dead." River hasn't listened of course and makes her way from the lycan's shoulder to the girls warm body. A new sleeping place. While Leralynn is occupied with her mantra, the alpha shows a moment of tenderness and smooths back golden hair from her forehead, "Shush now, girl. He'll be fine, she'll be fine."
Shishi 's younger, fangless self responds to the newt defiantly, "Bla-... My Brother hit me..." their seemingly one sided conversation continues for some time as the sun moves across the sky. Blue, realizing there wasn't anything he could do to interrupt this memory he's being shown recites the newt's lines aloud now, "You'll die here if you stay stuck in that past. We can leave here and go find him together..." Adult Blue shook his head as if pleading with the boy to stay under the tree, but it was a plea some forty years too late as the boy stands, rubs at his eyes, smearing his parent's blood across his cheeks in the process and begins moving away from the tree as the scene fades and the vampire finds himself back in the room he had run out of with one less choice of corridors to exit through... This time he looks at the carving before entering, this time it is of a bat, it's wings spread, and possessing those same spiral eyes, not enough for Blue to fully anticipate what was at the other end, but enough to slow the vampire down as he traversed the hallway leading to his past... Outside Yellow shakes his head and explains, "I can't hear him... Lulah can... I'll ask her... Can you make him tell us where Bl-... er... The Big One is?" The assassin is tied to a chair and struggling it seems, or at least that is what Shishi is presented with in this next memory. He sees himself as one would see the vampire now, albeit without fangs still, captured and tethered to a seat that is bolted into the ground... "Black!"
The monkey made a toothy grimace, her simian way of illustrating a negative. "Can't make it do anything it doesn't want to," she replied, turning her glittery gaze upon the bird, which was started undulating gently as she did so. She made the monkey-version of a "hurrumph" sound. "Fat-bird is hungry, I know that. But it says Big One is going backward, and this is the right way." The lift of her flat brow was her version of shrugging. "It seems we must simply wait for him to wind back far enough, Little One."
Yellow would pass as much of that as he could remember verbatim to the vampiress, a wan smile lifted toward Mahri before he sought Terra again. "That wasn't really Mommie in there." The boy's gaze was full of the question, a kind pained hope she might agree. Mahri might notice the fact that the ruin was a ruin no more, since they were all standing just outside of the shadow of a building that reached almost cloud-high in places, thoug its towers lifted and sank in increments speedy enough to be visible, if one were attentive. The ground gave a vague shudder, and the penguin flipped its head back, neck stretching at an impossible angle so it could view the fortress upside-down. At that moment, the structure gave off a loud, rattling noise not unlike a belch, one of its uppermost towers contracted and then expanded suddenly, and a winged figure was shot like a darkly-feathered ball from a cannon, into the wild blue yonder, where it would be the only thing in flight.
Terra saw Mahri swoop in and relieve just the slightest bit of tension. Things always seemed less complicated when the she-wolf was around even in the midst of a kidnapping or jailbreak. Maybe she was just another that had been amongst the Pool and its powers, survived what seemed to be an endless night. There was never enough time to dwell on this and eventually a shaky, thin smile was offered to serve as a greeting that might have gone without acknowledgement given Mahri's current task of occupying a child that battled a constant war of being concious. Better judgement kept the vampire from shoving the responsibility of children and pet on the lycan and rushing in, though it was a fraying thread as time continued to go on and on. Asking a child to translate questions to a monkey so that the creature could ask it of a penguin might signal that the sanity of the trio was trickling away, but anything could and would happen on that ring of dead terrain. Lulah's chittering, which remained all nonsense to her, caught her gaze and an attentive stare was fixed on Yellow as he replied as smoothly as the boy could manage. When the question was asked of her, it forced head to shake and immediately deny that his mother had ever been in there. "No, no it wasn't. It was all a very cruel, very scary joke that you did not fall for. Good job. You did a good job." Yellow's collected in arms once more, mindful of the perch Lulah had on his shoulder as not to disrupt the contact she held with the bird, its motives, and the hostages within. She'd remain semi-distracted as the words were repeated silently in mind. Blue was alive and functioning within the former-ruins... wait, former? Shoulders tremored and for a moment there's the cold slap of fear across flushed cheeks, spine straightening even as loose arms held the child closer still. Stone had been re-forged and those obsidian towers were eyed with distaste. None of this bode well within the depths of her belly, worry only mounted higher than the towers themselves.
Shishi twitched, and so did his kidnapped human form, as a voice rang through the darkened room, "Still holding onto that name, eh?" Emerging, seemingly out of thin air, is a vampiric male that walks shakily towards the restrained Blue, but it is not from this vampire that the voice comes from again, "Doesn't matter... You and I are going to break this curse, Brother... Even if we have to live forever to do it... You'll take the first step for us... This is the strongest one I could find. He's afraid of the sea for some reason." There's long pauses between Black's sentences, almost as if he's stopping to laugh a bit in between each phrase and doesn't want the human he's captured to hear. "I was surprised to find you alone, -Blue-... Something happen to...?" His voice is drowned out by Shishi's scream of agony as the seemingly hypnotized vampire bites violently into his neck. The amplitude of those cries seem to shake the very memory itself, making it shimmer like a mirage before it fades away and leaves Blue with just one final passage to move through. The etching on the wall for this one was that of a man, again possessing spiral pupils, and a circle in the sky. Perhaps the sun? Blue just shakes his head at this final corridor and spins around looking for another way to travel only to find none. It's Fall again at the end of the tunnel and tears are already seeping from Blue's eyes as he arrives on the scene outside of a small home in the forest just in time to see dark-haired twins engaging in a short fistfight. A solid punch is landed on one of them that will surely leave the boy with a fat lip. Hovering above the children is a purplish, swirling sphere that emits some terrifying energy, or at least it did when this scene actually took place. On the ground by the brawling boys are a brown haired woman and a black haired man, both seemingly unconscious... The present Shishi shuts his eyes to the scene but he can still see it all clear as day as if it's being projected onto his eyelids form inside his skull, "No... nononono..."
Lulah tilted her furry chin Terra's way. "The Woman has it all wrong. But we'll explain later, Small One." What exactly they'd explain, and who exactly 'they' were wasn't clear to the lad, who was hanging onto Terra tightly. This said, the little monkey curled her tail around Arius' neck, like a thin, prehensile scarf, and crouched into a secure position in which she could take her rest. She wasn't a young monkey, by any standard, and she too was terribly weary after thier sojourn. The penguin, all the while, had flipped its head back into a more normal position as Taeme erupted from the fortress, its raised beak perpindicular to the ground, inky eyes trained on that distant figure. Yellow saw it too, as he'd snuggled into the vampiress' arms. He lifted a forefinger to it, not very high, as he was quite tired, too. "What's that...? Is it a bird?" The penguin rotated itself and lowered it beak until faced the fortress. Somewhere in its dim awareness, it sensed the end of a journey was coming. The beginning of another, on the way. "Fat-bird" clicked its beak again. It liked things that had no clear start or finish, loops and mazes. Puzzles. And it disliked the gnawing, empty sensation in its glutinous middle. That beak slowly shifted toward Lulah, who shivered violently and muttered, without looking the bird's way, "Don't even think about it."
Yellow pointed toward the sky and eventually she'd give in to curiosity and glance upwards. That distant figure only served as initiative to pull the child near, untrusting of anything that floated above this place. Another shiver of distrust travelled down spine as a chill settled over her. Something was not right. This sentiment only seemed to be echoed when Lulah shivered and though she did not know the purpose behind it, she'd still glance towards the Bird. That thing gave her the creeps. Then again, what did not here? Over the slim shoulder of a small boy she'd look towards Mahri with a frown, "How is she?" A nod towards Orange and the silence both harbored.
Shishi 's younger self spit out some blood and glared towards his brother through glowing crimson eyes. The other boy stared back with a shake of his head and a wicked grin, the two shared the glowing red irises, but Black's pupils were twisted around themselves in a black spiral, "He let Red die, Blue... Hehehe! No... haha, He killed Red... and he needs to pay. Heh... Hahaha~! There's nothing you can do to stop me..." The purple sphere lowered in the sky to hover between the two boys, "I already know what you'll see... haha~... They told me. I can't beli-" There's a flash and the floating orb seems to explode outward, engulfing the entire scene. When the sense of sight returns there's nothing to see but young Blue and his fat lip, completely alone. He runs but doesn't seem to get anywhere. He cries out, "Black!? Let me out! White!? Ma!? Mom!? Mom!?"
The teen's breathing quickens and he's set into a panic, sprinting more and moving even less. There's nothing but Shishi at the end of his childhood and the current version of the assassin, curled up in a ball with his hands pressed to his head watching the scene he knows so well. This memory lasts the longest, or at least feels like it does before fading away. More time is taken by the assassin who refuses to move after that last scene. His eyes have faded back to their original oceanic shade of blue. Blinking through tears he can see just one exit to the room he's placed in. It is with the mindset that he could be shown nothing worse that he sets off down the hallway, voices echoing in his head that are perhaps too sweet to be provided by the wicked Pool:
-Blueberries for Shishi... and what do you want, Picky Boy?-
-Ma~! How'd you tell us apart? We switched clothes and everything~!-
-I can just tell, Shish. It's easy for someone like me.-
Mahri listened to the chatter of monkey all the while rocking orange in a maternal manner. River whispered to the girl in her small voice, soothing her into falling asleep finally. The rest didn't come without dreams, some which caused a whimper or two which the lycan crooned into quiet. A young brow furrowed even as she quieted. "Sleeping," is the answer to the last question. Glancing upwards, the flying figure is given a good long study. "No, I don't think that's a bird. Not a bird at all." Actually, she'd probably look at anything but the fortress, not wanting to admit that's the source of her unease of late. Rebuilt now, the towers casting shadow on shadows and the sense of something dark and malevolent inside is enough to raise the fine hairs on the back of her neck, which it has. "Terra, if they don't come out soon..." The rest is left unsaid and finally those silvery eyes train themselves on the entrance and the unnatural penguin.
"It ain't over 'til the Fat-bird sings..." Lulah half-yawned the words out, her black-button eyes closing briefly, the monkey forcing them open as she murmured to Yellow in a monkeyish manner. And, as if on cue, the cryptic penguin lifted its dagger-like beak skyward again and let out a cacophonous jangle of sound that seemed not at all a natural noise for a penguin to make. Not that this was, in way or form, a natural penguin. Deep inside the Chaotic building, rooms sprang into being, rooms filled with memories, fears and desires, images plucked from the minds of all who'd passed through its pseudo-flesh, past and present, some realistic, some quite fantastical, others far beyond the bounds of sanity. And amid this activity, a few places would remain stable, at least for a time.. one, the temporary lodging of a psychic and a once-man, observed by a sineater. Another, a strange cocoon in which the existences of two men were shuffled like a very thin deck of cards. Yet another, where a fleeing Blue heard echoes of the past coming from all directions, sounds that mutated into an ugly cry in the end, a terrible sound that nevertheless acted as an auditory arrow, pointing him in a certain direction. "It needs lessons," observed Arius, clamping his palms across his ears.
Terra could only imagine the dreams that REM provided Orange with and there's a silent prayer to a deity -any that would listen- that those unconscious images be just the slightest bit more cheerful that what awaited her in reality. Throat is cleared and what Mahri had just said earned the lycan a scowl of absolute displeasure. Emotions ran high outside those walls, just as high as they did on the inside where nothing could be seen, done. Helpless and just as frustrated with that feeling she'd just look away at anything but the boneless bird, the silver-eyed lycan, and the source of her unease. Moments pass and after a hoarse cough she found herself able to speak, "They'll be out soon." She sounded far more stubborn than the child in her arms. This worked well to hide the fear but she's unsure what caused it more; Blue not returning or her entering. As that loud, unnerving cry sounded it seemed like staying outside was the worst option and both hands covered Arius' own to aide in drowning out the shrill sound of nefarious bird. A low hiss was elicited between clenched teeth at the creature though it was less a threat than an expression of annoyance.
Shishi followed the noise as if it were a siren's song and not some disgusting, incoherent mess of screams weaved together. His paces is brisk and his expression absolutely blank as streaks of tears dry on his cheeks. Separated from Jolie and now without those disturbing memories of his to keep him company, the vampire comes to the realization that he is alone in this fortress now too. The thought quickens his pace a bit as he mindlessly follows the noise. 'Ah~! Yellow!" that second thought hits him hard, they had entered the remade building in chase of Arius. Gritting his teeth, the vampire breaks into a sprint again in the direction of the cries, calling out to his son, "Yellow!?" not yet knowing that the boy had already made it out 'safely'.
Mahri cringed, tightening her hold on Orange at the cacophony of sound. At least the exhausted girl didn't awaken. Baring her teeth, the lycan lets out the only sound she can, a low growl that's meant to warn whatever was inside that building that it wouldn't win. It would not keep its prisoners even if she had to go in herself. "Terra, we may not have a choice." The cry for Yellow echoes and something like hope rears its head. "He's close," she says in a lower voice. Now, if only Jolie would be right behind him..
Jolie wouldn't be. She was currently and once more pounding her fists against a transparent wall, trying to make contact with those on the other side. Caedan.. and some man she thought she knew, from somewhere.... Belulah made another sleepy mutter, apparently unfazed by all the noise and near-panic going on around her, "Quite wrong, all of them..." She might've dozed off then had not Yellow let out a yelp and struggled from the vampiress' embrace, disengaging her hands from his ears and almost dislodging his simian passenger in the process. Lulah scowled, but only briefly, clinging like a limpet to the boy's head and shoulders as he ran toward the fortress' entrance waving his arms wildly as though his father could see him, crying out, "Blue! Blue! We're over here! Blue!" Doggedly, the wobbly sea-bird waddled off after him, its hideous call gurgling down to a series of pensive hoots that sounded absurdly like unintelligible questions.
Terra went still and paled, if a vampire was capable of that. All it took was those two words from Mahri and both hands fell from Yellow's, just as he started to squirm away. Arius had the head-start but she didn't trail far behind, tossed over shoulder with a frown, "Watch her, Mahri!" Even if she was absolutely positive that the she-wolf was more than capable of that. Every step seemed riskier because it meant she was closer, near even still to the thralls of this place. Though it was tempting to attack the penguin and that continous racket it made she merely made a wide circle around, walked into the gaping maw of the monster though would not dare enter the belly of the beast. "Blue!" Hadn't Mahri heard him, assured he was close? "Shishi!" Every attempt was louder than the last until she wasn't able to hear a response over that noise, the last was more a strangled sob, choked plea. "Blue...!" Cool hand gently touched Arius' shoulder to ensure herself that he would not be re-entering this place... or drawn back in without being accompanied. "Jolie?!" Another attempt in case Mahri had heard wrong.
Shishi blinked once during his sprint. Was that Yellow's voice? This was really the right direction? No more tricks from the Fortress? More calls of his colorful name and he's even less skeptical, moving as fast as he can now. Then Terra's voice joins in and the assassin... cracks a smile? Could it be that directly after that ordeal that this was even possible for him? The answer would seem to be 'yes' as that mantra echoes in his mind, 'You'll die here if you stay stuck in that past.' So it is an Optimistic Demon that emerges from the the passage, slowing down to push his wife and son back out of that gaping maw with him, "Yellow~! You're out! What're you two doing? You don't want to go in there."
Terra did not have to be pushed -- no, because she had grabbed him then and felt nearly every limb for reassurance that he was well, unscathed... well, in a physical sense anyway. Every breath was soaked with relief, tinged with happiness, and finally a glance was spared over his shoulder in effort to see if anyone had followed him out. "Jolie isn't with you?" There was the slightest bit of guilt that such joy had been expressed while the leader remained trapped inside, likely stuck in one of the many rooms without a chance of escape. "Yellow and Orange are both safe. Mahri has Orange and ... watch out for the bird." Which he might have soon learned as they rounded the corner to find the dusty mound of earth, a deformed bird, and the slumbering Orange held in the arms of their mutual friend.
Shishi frowned slightly and didn't need to look backwards into the mouth of the building to answer, "No... We were separated..." he swallowed hard, wiping at his face with one hand to check if any tears were still lingering on his cheeks, "Should I go back in for her?" he asks, needlessly maintaining a brave front. When the dark penguin is spotted Blue looks towards Arius and asks, "That thing was with you in there, huh? What is it?" to which the boy shrugs slightly, "Lulah says it's part of that place... Belulah can talk, you know? Can we go home?" The vampire shook his head slowly, "Not yet... We'll wait till she gets out."
Terra studied Shish for a long moment. There were so many questions to be asked but that voice was lost, drowned in the blood that rushed through her ears at the extended stay Jolie had within the walls. If she were in the clan leader's shoes, what would have been done if another was lost in the dark corridors? Not much time would be wasted debating this and as the family was reunited, celebrated their reunion, they might notice that she had vanished and only the sound of heels against stone floor would mark the cause of her disappearance. Not if the events of the past would keep her from Jolie, they could work past that and the first attempt was trying.
Shishi nodded and forced a smile for his son, "An elephant? Sheesh..." before moving towards Orange and Mahri to check on the girl. "You're alright?" He asked her, "Just a little bit longer, I'm sure Joliette will be right ou-..." "Uh... Blue!" the call from Yellow cuts the vampire off as the boy points towards the entrance to the Fortress and indicates the lack of Terrain his line of sight.. "You've got to be kidding..." this is said as he's mid sprint, "Take care of Orange!" whether this is said to Mahri or Yellow one can't be sure as the vampire runs, without hesitation back into the fortress, chasing after the empath, "Ter!"