[KQ] Raise You Like a Phoenix

a m a l i a Everything continues to go to shit. Rory is not doing well. The snow does not appear to help, and, indeed, only aggravates him more. She barely notices as the man flails at her: the movement is alarmingly half-hearted and weak, and Amalia is more concerned with the threat of his demise than the danger to herself. At least Edy has come around, moving off to try and repair the perch, perhaps their only chance at making it out. She wants to help, but there is no leaving Rory in this state. Gears turn quickly in her mind, an assessment of the situation leading to an idea. "Take the antler!" she calls weakly, gesturing to the glowing antler that sits atop Talys, the pony anxious but tied near the perch. So far, Amalia alone has been unaffected. She isn't sure if it's the antlers or the fish, but she would rather be safe than sorry. All is not calm. A flash of white interrupts Amalia's vision: the fox, moments ago placid, lunges past her to attach itself to Rory's shoulder in a burst of teeth and blood. "Mort!" she curses, scrambling, reaching out to pry the thing off her injured companion and hopefully fling it away, toward the perch. Fear taints her actions, panic pushing greedily at the corners of her mind, and she trembles without knowing it, her body a leaf in the absent wind. Turning back to Rory, Amalia sees his current state and her concern deepens even more. "No no no!" she whispers ineffectually as the man's - her friend's - eyes flutter and threaten to close. "Rory, don't- it's a trick, it's the darkness, you have to listen and be strong and brave!" This is her fault: she helped to build the failed perch, she wanted to investigate its demise, she was safe but could not save her friends. Tears spring hot and painful in her eyes. Everyone she loves has died or left her. It is her curse to endure. She slips the antler from her back and presses it into Rory's hand. "Hold this-" and then she turns around to face the darkness, crouched low and wary. She will throw herself at whatever tries to hurt him next, use her body to shield his. "Safrin," she pleads quietly into the night, "Vi, Mort, Caido, Rae- please, please help us."

the perch Sweet chaos, chaos all around. What a perfect LongNight this was turning out to be. The creatures flanking the little group - the group stranded in the darkness, without a hope around - continued to prowl and slaver and wait for an opportunity to strike at those unprotected by the light or the fish. The wounded one in particular looked wonderfully tasty, but to their horror, he is handed a something red which glows. Not. Fair. Edrei's efforts on the perch pay off - the splintered main beam tumbles from the post it had been lashed upon and lands with a whump in the snow, ropes trailing off it, the splintered third of it hanging uselessly. That would need to be removed before they could hoist the beam back in place. But whilst Edrei redoubled her efforts on the perch, the madness redoubled its own attempts on the group... Efforts to fix the perch are underway! The following was determined entirely by dice rolls and existing stats, giving these results: Edrei SUCCEEDS in resisting the madness! Rory SUCCEEDS in resisting the madness. Should he accept the antlers offered to him by Amalia, he will also be protected from it - and the monsters. But not from his friends, unfortunately. Jigano FAILS to resist the madness and attacks AMALIA and HITS. Amalia remains unaffected. POST ORDER IS AS FOLLOWS: 1. Jigano 2. Edrei 3. Amalia 4. Rory You have 48 hours to respond. If you do not respond in time the KQ will move on without you.

The world is red.

Red and coppery and hot and bitter on his tongue, on his fur, in his eyes. He has felt angry before. He has felt bitter and cold and betrayed. But never has he felt such rage coiling through him, simmering under his skin, boiling beneath his thoughts, twisting through his heart with every beat and sending poison singing through his blood.

With ever passing pound of his pulse the darkness sank its clutching talons deeper, the light within fading as the part of him that railed against its lies and manipulations grew weaker. He had never known the dichotomy between man and beast before this night, but now he was learning it, in the way his consciousness was fading to instinct, emotion and reaction becoming more powerful while coherent thought grew hazed and distant.

The difference between friend and monster blurred when everyone was so much bigger than him, when even the smallest of the two-legs reached for him, touching him, sinking long, spidery fingers into his fur in unforgiveable violation. He released the one who’d fallen, turning instead to snap sharp, crimson teeth over the wrist of the one who had dared to lay hands on him, struggling to free himself until – unexpectedly – he was flung away, falling, twisting to land in the snow before the perch.

Shaking violently, the white fox whined and snapped at the laughing, screeching, skittering voices in its head, unraveling from the inside even as his friend – and victim – lay wounded on the outside not so far away.

The antler? Edy glances towards the saddle where the red glowing antler has been bound. In the middle of this literal madness worrying about the object seems entirely unwarranted. But something about the red suggests magic, and given Amalia seems not to have fallen victim to whatever insidiousness is at play, it seems like a good move. Or at least not the worst move. Running towards Talys, the pony shies away. Edy is a streak of darkness that smells like fire and just attacked her owner, so the reaction is not so surprising. But the teenager knows little of horses or how to be around them, and so she merely screeches unhappily at the creature, reaching out with her life-drain magic to force it to still. Grabbing at the antler (using disintegration magic on the binding rather than undoing the knots), she pulls it away. For a moment she stands there as if waiting for some disney-esque transformation to occur, but nothing does. ".........k." She snarks towards Amalia, before turning her attention back towards the perch. She looks just in time to see Jigano hit the ground, and something in the way his furry body ceases to move for a second is incredibly satisfying. Raising her hands with fire blazing from her palms, she looks back towards the perch which has begun to look more like some sort of satanic effigy the longer this encounter progresses. "Y'think it's this making...uh...y'know, all this happen?" She eyes the perch, then the group (sans Jigano, cause you know, foxes normally aren't too chatty). Bobi however has slunk towards the fox, whining low in her throat and positioning herself as a rough shield. "I could bring this fucker down in a heartbeat." Edy announces, the flames licking at her fingertips growing stronger and brighter as she reaches out with magic that can burst the beams apart. Edy takes the antler, but otherwise basically does nothing. #yolo EDY Could dress up to get love. But guess what? I'm never gonna be that girl who's living in a Barbie world

a m a l i a The attempt to be rid of the pesky fox is not without consequences. Amalia bites hard on her lip in an attempt to avoid screaming as the vulpine Attuned latches onto her wrist. The motion works, but her right hand is left badly wounded, a half circle of small, deep teeth marks oozing red from her forearm. Silently she curses, angled face contorting in a brief flash of pain, anger lashing through her unaided by any madness. Why, why would he not just shift, become a human and actually help? In her wrath she does not see that this would only lead to bigger problems. Only now matters, the well being of Rory and the madness of her companions and the cruel, crushing guilt at being responsible for dragging them into this mess. She wishes they had waited for Wessex, yearns for the older woman. Wessex would have known what to do. Amalia is not prepared to take charge. But take charge she must. She alone has remained safe, though as Rory grasps the glowing antler it seems that this might change. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?" Her hands move to touch his chest, but she thinks better of it. Tears burn in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Rory. This is all my fault." There will be time for tenderness later. Right now, Edy is the next priority: the beautiful, savage child has already proven herself beyond predictability or control. Helping Rory to stand, Amalia turns as the teen begins talking, a new sort of panic rising in her face. "No!" she exclaims, and then softer but still urgent: "No! We need to fix it, for the Spark Bird, so that... so that..." It sounds ridiculous, even to her. The Spark Bird, a vanished myth, is not going to come. Their perch was doomed before it was built, and now they have rushed out here, fallen into a trap- for what? A fairytale, a children's myth, a story told around campfires in the depths of the Long Night. The Spark Bird had been a favorite of her grandmother, and thus, the girl, but it was her mother who was ultimately right. The bird had perished long ago. They were never going to see it. No matter how they wished, no matter how they prayed, it was never going to come. And yet... Her arm around Rory, ready to throw herself in front of any danger that should try to approach him, Amalia stares at Edrei with tears in her eyes, pleading with the girl to understand. "Please," she whispers, taking slow steps toward the perch. "Please don't burn it. Please." Because at the end of the day her belief may be foolish, but it is the only thing she has. Permission from Neo to pp Rory getting up with Amalia. Ama continues to act as a human shield and will step in to take any blow aimed at Rory.

Someone was talking.

It was vague and distant, like water lapping against shore, an echo through a dream. The teeth were torn from his body, pulled out and coated in his blood; it ran in little rivulets, soaking up into his clothes, and the breath that left his body was a weak sigh.

It almost sounded as if he wasn't going to breathe in again, but he did, and his eyelids began to flutter. Never before in his life had he been so grievously injured, never before in his life had he been in such agony—always a careful, cautious child, grown up to a careful, cautious wolf.

Yet there he lies, bleeding and burnt.

His body was done indexing the damage; it had done the calculations, and so far, it still came out as alive. The strange and glassy and starry sea he floated in began to give way to the noise of the chaos around him, the scent of blood and melted hair and the reek of animal fear. One hand held the pony's lead rope; the other was clasped around a red, glowing antler.

He had found a third road, one that had no stars, one that had no need for murder.

There were no more taunts, goading him into an inexplicable, single-minded rage.

Amalia was hovering above him, worried and frantic, and what he had just been put through began to come back to him. Most importantly, she needed to keep herself together. They were out during the Long Night, god's sake. "We can feel guilty later," he mumbled to her, but he decided against trying to smile for her. The skin of his face felt taut and every little movement had the darkness threatening the edges of his vision.

"The antler," he said, as if it somehow explained everything.

Then he was being hauled up, and he definitely blacked out a time or two, but Amalia managed to right him and he caught most of what was said between her and the fire-handed girl. "So that we can have some fucking light," Rory weakly finished her sentence. He wasn't sure it even carried to the girl. He glanced around for the fox, spotting the white creature near the perch. "Hey, Paws, y'should.. should come.. hold this thing," this thing being the red antlers.

Knowing what his mind had said and done.. he couldn't fault the fox for putting its teeth in him.

He was just a teensy bit pissed about all the blood he was leaving behind, though.

As he was led closer to the perch (still holding the gray pony's lead rope, and the little mare followed anxiously close behind him), the extent of the damage became clear to him. The main beam had been brought down, but it was splintered, which would've made it so off-balanced a giant, mythical bird probably risked snapping it if it landed in the wrong place. They needed to fix that.. but there were not tools...

So he turned inwards, sort of slumped across Amalia's shoulder as he sought for what he needed. Something that could act as a tool, to cut off the splintered part.

The answer to his prayer was a beaver. It just sort of appeared, between one heartbeat and the next. The not-quite-real creature sniffed the air, then approached the beam—guided by Rory's desire and need, it began to chip away at the crossbeam.

"There's still rings.. attached to the top," he mumbled into Amalia. "If we can just get some rope through.. we can haul it back up again..."

---

Rory takes the antler, then summons a beaver to nom off the splintered end, and kindly informs everyone about the rings they can use to hoist it back into place.

the perch They were coming together to form a plan, and that was infuriating. The world surrounding the perch would seem to dance and flicker, as if it was on fire, and the jabbering from the creatures out there in the darkness grew more frenzied than ever. Only the little white thing was still good to eat, and even then he was barely a mouthful. But they would not just sit idly by while hope was restored and prey got away, no... from the darkness, things began to fly at the group, sharp stones, bones (some still matted with flesh or scraps of clothing) and hunks of wood, among other debris. If they hit they would certainly cause some damage, or perhaps even cause someone to drop hold of an antler... Then again, some of what was thrown might even be useful. It depended entirely on the group's creativity. Efforts to fix the perch are continuing, and the main beam is now suitable to hoist back into place! The following was determined entirely by dice rolls and existing stats, giving these results: {AMALIA, EDREI and RORY are immune to the madness this round, but debris is raining upon all of them!} Amalia dodges the debris! Rory dodges the debris! Edrei dodges the debris! Jigano dodges the debris! (Wow monsters, r u blind) JIGANO resists the madness! The DM advises that you do not waste this ridiculous luck wonderful opportunity. NO POST ORDER!

a m a l i a He's alive. He's sane. It worked. It worked! The antler glows in Rory's hand and his eyes begin to clear. Better, Amalia herself still remains relatively unperturbed - it is only her own madness that plagues her, but for the moment she has that under control. The tears that blur Amalia's eyes finally fall as Rory speaks, his voice as sweet as any other the girl has ever heard. "Thank you, Vi, Safrin," she murmurs, choking on her desperate relief, a little of the weight easing from her shoulders. She may have dragged them into this disaster, but at least she hasn't killed anyone. At least she hasn't killed him. Yet. "Don't let go, okay? Don't you dare let go." Of the antler. Of life. Of her. By some miracle, she stands him up; by another, none of their companions raises hand against them. It seems they have been given a brief respite, an ease in the madness that she cannot help think is directly related to the antlers in their hands. Even the debris that flies through the air seems determined to miss them, though she continues trying to keep guard over Rory as much as possible. Only the fox is without guard, but frankly, her concern for the fox is minimal at best. Even Edy is marginally calm. "We need to fix it," she says again, turning to Rory for some sort of guidance, who delivers, with both a suggestion and a... beaver? Squaring her shoulders and clenching her jaws, Amalia makes up her mind. She has always been impressed by the man's composure, but she knows she cannot put all the responsibility on him now. She has to step in, to lead the team. Guiding Rory toward the main crossbeam, Amalia kneels beside it and inspects the viability of the plan, just as a chunk of earth whizzes past her ear. "Okay. There's still rope on the main log... and it's pretty long. We just need to get it up... there." She squints up at the top of the perch, dark eyes bright with fire. They can do this. They can do this. Grasping the rope, she stands again, her gaze shifting back to Edy. "I'll try to throw it over. Maybe we can get it close enough. Then you start pulling it up. Okay? And whatever else- don't let go of the antler." Then she turns to the fox, her face growing darker and her voice growing sharp. "If you won't shift into a more useful form, maybe you should leave." She cannot have him attacking Rory again, though she'll step in and block it if he tries. They have enough to deal with right now.

There was a bird chirping frantically, somewhere. In his head, or maybe it was in his heart? It was hard to hear over the sounds of madly giggling screams and wretched laughter and claws that skittered through his brain, but someone, somewhere, was worried about him. Desperately worried, and their fear for him was growing slowly but steadily stronger—

Isuma!

The fox’s head jerked up, the red haze fading by increments and then, it seemed, all at once as he wrenched control of himself away from the grasping, cruel talons that had so disordered his thoughts and left him lost to mindless rage. For a moment he simply crouched, panting, and focusing on the fear and love of a tiny gryphon. When he closed his eyes he thought he could almost see a snowy field, lit briefly by a scattering of lights – luxere? Luxere leaving the farm? But Isuma was too, it seemed, determined to come to his aid when he needed her most.

He wanted to tell her to stop, to go back, but their connection was so tenuous he didn’t think he could… and if the luxere were leaving, what protection did she have?

Then again, if she came here, she would have even less, wouldn’t she? There was blood in his mouth. The blood of the friends he had meant to protect, and he shivered, retching in a dry cough while Amalia gathered Rory to her side and got him up and moving. What if he turned again? Turned on Isuma the way he had on… on Rory…

Blue eyes looked up, wide with horror and guilt at the stumbling voice of his friend, and a whine of denial and sorrow rose from his throat as he pressed back against the perch. Rory was hurt, badly so, burned and bitten - bitten - and bleeding from the wounds Jigano had inflicted on him. Amalia, beside him, also bore the signs of his teeth and he wanted to curl up and slink away in shame. Even if he’d wanted to come close to Rory at the blond’s soft coaxing, Amalia’s sharp voice and well-deserved anger left him flinching away.

But… there was Bobi, the kitten not so fooled as the rest of them, protecting him from… from Edy? Who was carrying one of Amalia’s glowing red antlers? And in his heart there was Isuma, her boundless love and courage growing stronger with every minute that passed. He had failed his friends this night, as he had failed others before them-

But he didn’t have to keep failing. Later, if they survived, there would be time to wallow in guilt and misery. He was good at that. But for now, things need to be done, as they always did. He couldn’t bottle it all up completely, not this time, it was too big for that, but he could take a breath (full of blood and fire and burning flesh and rotting meat and death) – and then yelp and scramble to the side as a brick sailed past his shoulder, barely missing him. He turned to snarl at the monsters, an ineffectual response from such a small creature, and he knew it. Too small to climb the perch that looked to be at least five yards tall, maybe more. As a man, he couldn’t do such a feat without a rope to help him. And there, at the top, he thought he could see the faintest glint of a steel ring. They would need to get the rope through the ring if they wanted any hope of guiding the perch up again. Amalia’s plan of throwing blind wouldn’t work.

Nothing would work, as they currently were. They were so close to repairing it and yet… and yet… all he had done was hinder their attempts, hurt his friends, and be utterly useless. Amalia was right that he couldn’t shift into a more useful form. What they needed was something with wings, something big enough to carry a rope up, clever enough to thread it through the ring – but not so big that he would wound his friends worse if he lost his grip on sanity again.

Searching, hoping – but not dreaming, no, he had lost the right to those – the fox rose up on his hind legs, stretching towards the top of the pole. One dainty paw pressed to the wood as he stared upwards, wishing fiercely for even a fraction of his old power. He was so focused on what was above him that he didn’t notice as his fur rippled into feathers, his tail shrinking and then spreading wide, his toes lengthening into talons-

Not until he stumbled forward with a rough squawk of indignation as his paw – his wing? – no longer supported him. Flapping instinctively, he found his balance and hopped backwards, trying to look down at himself in shock. He couldn’t see much – toes too clever to be a hawk or eagle, and size too small. His beak was large, but then, anything so big in the middle of his face would look that way. He didn’t crow – though perhaps the sound was somewhat close – but he did croak excitedly to get Amalia’s attention. He had seen Remi shift into a hawk several times; somehow he had managed to do the same. His body already knew how to balance and move and, he hoped, to fly.

There was only one way to find out. Crouching and flipping his wings he tried to relax, to rely on this new form the way he’d always relied on his fox form since he’d been born. A breath in and then, on the exhale, the downbeat, the frantic rise, another downbeat, and he was off the ground, albeit more clumsily than he would have liked.

”'Alia!” he croaked excitedly. ”Give!” He hadn’t even meant to speak, the words spilling out broken but clear enough. White wings fluttered dangerously close to her as he beat at the air to stay aloft, snatching the end of the rope from her startled hands before he lifted away. It was far from an easy journey, but it only took a few seconds to flap his way to the top of the perch, his erratic flight more effective at throwing off the aim of whatever was chucking things out of the darkness than any intentional dodging would have been. It took him two tries to thread the ring with the rope, but finally he pushed it through and then caught the far end, swooping down to drop it in Edy’s hands and managing a rough but serviceable landing on her antler, feathers ruffling in the joy of his first flight under his own power in spite of the night of blood and fire all around them.

---

Jigano turns into a raven for the first time! He steals the rope from Amalia (pp permitted by Charks) and threads it through the ring at the top of the perch, dropping it in Edrei 's hands before landing on her antler.

There was too much happening. The dark-eyed hot (but yell-y) one was, well, yelling, but for a wonder it wasn't at Edy; there was a ... ??????????? Edy who had never seen a beaver before more or less hissed in a breath and glared at the humble little creature as it began its carpentry project. Quickly the fox—who must not have been a fox, given Amalia's scolding—suddenly became a fucking bird. That though ... that was something that couldn't go without comment. "Oh really? Well fuck you too, pal." She growled, unimpressed with the whitewashing of animals this fucker was pulling out. She watched through squinted eyes as the not-fox flew the rope through the ring above and dropped it into her hands. "Took you long enough to be useful, you fuck." She chirped, grabbing the rope and beginning to back up. However as Jigano landed on her antler, Edy paused long enough to give it a shake. "Can I help you? What I look like, a fuckin' tree? Fuck off." At her feet however, Bobi yowled. Whether to try and convince her to leave Jigano alone or to focus on her task wasn't entirely clear, but whatever it was, it worked. "The fuck do we care about this for anyways. Risking our damn necks for a fucking bird." Then, automatically she glanced at Jigano with a shrug, "No offense, even if you are an asshole." She added. Edy pulls on the rope EDY Could dress up to get love. But guess what? I'm never gonna be that girl who's living in a Barbie world

There was something incredibly satisfying about just standing there in the utter dark, watching the little beaver chip away at its project. It was not a real animal, so it knew no fear of the monsters prowling around them: it knew only its task, and though Rory had channeled his need into it, it didn't hurry. The red light of the antlers illuminated the curve of its back. Somewhere beyond them were the monsters. Closest was Amalia, warm and steady, some of his blood probably soaking into her clothes.

Because it kept on dripping, trying to exit his body, though he thought it had probably begun to clot by now. A fox bite wouldn't kill you on its own, even if it had been deep and badly situated.

Amalia formulated a plan, and Rory's hands tightened around the antler. It seemed solid enough, aside from the throwing bit: there was no way, any way, she'd be able to hit the ring at that distance. They'd have to weight the rope, and the force needed to swing it that high would mean accuracy went out the window...

It was a night for faith, but not even Rory could believe in that.

Then she turned on his fox friend, and even though Rory had just had its teeth in his shoulder, he felt a little bothered by Amalia telling it to shove off. He could see the logic of it: what good was a fox in this situation? And what good had it done? Not much; it had bitten both of them. "It's my emotional support animal," he mumbled into Amalia's shoulder, but it wasn't a reprimand, more an effort to light up the mood as the monsters began to throw all sorts of debris at them. It was about as well-aimed as any attempts to throw the rope would be.

To his surprise—he'd been thinking about birds, if maybe he should try to think some into existence now that the beaver was done with its task—he heard a croak. Rory blinked and allowed the beaver to fade out of existence, but the bird he finally focused his gaze on wasn't his. It was a raven, white, blue-eyed. The Attuned.

The girl had some choice words to say about it, but then the raven took the rope and flew to the top of the perch—albeit a bit unsteadily, or maybe that was just Rory swaying—and pulling it through the ring, before returning and handing it to the girl, who had some more choice words about the whole ordeal.

Well. Time to hoist. Leaning on Amalia the duo crept close enough to grab onto the rope, though... With two ruined shoulders and a tendency to flicker out of consciousness when the pain overwhelmed him, Rory was close to useless. With Amalia still shadowing him he grabbed the leftover length of rope coiled on the ground—so basically the part that wasn't pulled taut by Edy—and looped it around Esaia, working only with his right hand, the left one still firmly grasping the antler. He gasped and nearly collapsed against the pony each time he was forced to move his shoulders more than just a little.

He looped the rope once around her barrel, then he turned it back through itself, across her chest, and tied it to itself again on the other side. It would be uncomfortable, it might cause rope burns, but she'd forgive him if it mean they survived. Still with Ama close, watching over him, he began to urge the pony to help pull, to add her strength to Edrei's.

"Because this world runs on faith," he mumbled in response to Edrei, ducking his head against the debris still being chucked at them by the monsters. "And if we can do this .. we can do anything."

Was he entirely aware of what he was saying?

Probably not.

---

Rory dismisses his beaver when it's done, and wobbles over with Amalia to try and haul the beam back into place. He grabs what lose end there is over behind Edrei and very crudely ties it around Esaia, to put her strength into it as well.

the perch Teamwork makes the dream work, or so they say. Whoever 'they' are. With the reprieve of sanity (and some terrible aim on the part of the creatures crawling in the dark), the group makes quick work of hoisting up the slightly shorter, but still very functional perch! In fact, with the help of Esaia they manage to get the perch back atop its supporting beam. All that is left to do now is to tie it tight with the rope to secure it in place against the other support struts. The creatures are not silent against the infuriatingly productive group. Quite the opposite, in fact - as the beam reaches the top, something screams - loud, high, terrible - in an effort to startle the little mortals. With the mare tied to the rope, there is no way the beam will topple. But they might drop an antler or two, or let one go by accident... The perch is almost fixed! But something is trying to startle the group, to cause them to let go of their protection and thus risk succumbing to madness again. And regrettably, whilst Jigano and Edrei are both touching one of the antlers, it will only protect one. Since Edy is holding it, Jigano is left exposed. The following was determined entirely by dice rolls and existing stats, giving these results: EDREI is startled by the scream and drops her antler - but Jigano SUCCEEDS to keep holding on with his talons! RORY is startled by the scream and drops his antler! AMALIA has a dreamfish and she cannot drop it. Edrei FAILS to resist the madness and attacks AMALIA and HITS. Rory FAILS to resist the madness and attacks EDREI and HITS. Amalia is unconscious from the attack from Edrei. Without immediate medical attention (in the following posts) she will die. For this reason, I will roll another round to resist madness (without attacks), to see if anyone will be able to recover to tend to her this round. Edrei SUCCEEDS in resisting the madness. She is free to try to help OR to pick up the antler again. Rory FAILS to resist the madness. Jigano has the antler currently, and so is protected. No post order.

a m a l i a Everything is going well. Everything is going well! Amalia dodges a shard of bone, pulling her head back as it whistles by her nose. Rory is still conscious, and even better, able to walk. The throbbing in her arm is diminished to a dull and steady ache, though whether due to adrenaline or healing cannot be said. In a shocking turn of events, the Attuned fox actually decides to demonstrate some usefulness, shifting into a bird and grabbing the rope from her hand. He strings it through the holes and drops it down to Edy, who grabs it and begins to pull. Still guarding Rory, Amalia watches with growing excitement as man, woman, bird, beaver, and pony work together to pull the crossbeam into place. She wants to clap, to cry, to dance. "We did it!" Soft but tight, quivering with relief and joy. "We're going to do it!-" And then, the scream. It pierces, hurts, and Amalia whirls around like a startled animal, a horrible fear squeezing at her chest. It sounds like a child, like a beast, like a wounded and wild thing, and as quickly as the sound rings out it dies. The girl draws a shaky breath, her heart still fluttering- and then it stops. Returning her gaze to the rest of the group, Amalia sees something far worse than any scream. The bottom of her stomach falls out; she takes a step forward, dark eyes wide as they fly between Edy and Rory and the fallen antlers, silently rocking, glowing, taunting them from the ground. She turns to Rory, but she can see it's too late. His face is changed, contorted, the madness returned to the gentle lines. "No..." she chokes out, urgent and forceful and so very, very afraid. "Rory, no, you have to resist, we're so close, we've almost finished, please-" Amalia is walking toward Rory, her arm outstretched. She does not see the Edy from the corner of her eye. She does not expect the attack. She does not know. All she knows is a flash of light (or is that darkness?), the scales of the dreamfish, the blue of Rory's eyes, the white of the snow, and then cold, so much cold, and above her in swirls of abstract ink the perch spins and dances, her failures made art. Something hurts. Everything hurts. All she wanted was to do something right, to make this year different, to be good. To be the one to summon the Spark Bird. To be something great. Instead she had dragged them all out here to die. She was selfish. She was petty. She was a failure. She was. Her breath comes in a ragged cloud, one last word whispered into the night. "Vi..." The world goes dark.

Edy sneers at the raven who won't fuck off from her antler. Honestly the glow of red on those white feathers is some Edgar Allen Poe shit that she feels in her bones despite the warbles of impossibility through time. However the devilish screams that siren through the trees makes her heart hammer. Not one to keep trinkets or keepsakes (or common sense) close to her, the teenager drops the antler as fire bleeds up from her palms, shooting out into the darkness. But of course it finds nothing; merely illuminating the ghostly nothingness that haunts them. And then she sees red once again. The red of the flames doesn't hold a candle to the burning inferno in her soul. Rounding, she snarls at the black-eyed bitch of a woman, with her angular face and all-too mysterious ways. "Fucking hold the antler she says." Edy snarls, her teeth like fangs in the night as firelight glints off of them casting demonic shadows in the angular parts of her bone structure. "So fucking bossy." The teenager snarls, prowling forwards with a hand outstretched, pulling some total Jedi bullshit as she made a choking grip with her fingers that Amalia would feel. "SHUT." Her hands tightened, her magic stretched out. "THE FUCK—" Edy grit her teeth so hard her jaw ached. She pulled and tugged at the life inside of Amalia, feeling it quench her insatiable anger in minuscule ways "—UP!!!!" And Amalia did. But not because she'd listened to the Launceleyn. But because Edy had killed her. As magic flowed out and her energy waned, sanity came rushing back all too quickly this time, making the teenager reel. She watched Amalia collapse, could feel the utter lack of life left inside of her. There was nothing left to drain, because there was nothing left at all. "ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck." She mumbled, rushing toward Amalia. Suddenly she was rocked to the side, her dark eyes wide as she spied Rory seething at her. Panicked, she looked to the white raven then back to Rory, curses and criticisms on her lips. Grabbing clumsily at Amalia's body which was now dead weight, Edy grunted and threw her unceremoniously over her shoulder. Knowing fuck all about horses the teenager didn't even consider using one of them. They weren't hers anyways. With a grunt, Edy shuffled as fast as she could towards the Rathskeller and towards Vai. Sure, Isla was the hot one, but right now Edy just wanted the comforting momma-Vai vibes and the magic she knew the woman possessed. Edy leaves with Amalia to seek help! EDY Could dress up to get love. But guess what? I'm never gonna be that girl who's living in a Barbie world