[se] untamed and full of teeth

bring me your suffering
the rattle roar of broken bones

“Don’t touch that,” she uttered to Sila, eyes flickering along the scene – but with enough wherewithal to know, and understand, that the dim glow of whatever the fuck that plant contained wasn’t…good. There’d certainly been rumor after rumor about strange plants and crash sites and an abundance of other coincidence jumbling together; so the Honeybee had her guard up.

“We’re looking for gore crows or rock sliders,” was a reminder, maybe to herself rather than her companions, as the dragon glided back through passages and followed along; Fangorn doing his best at leading the charge, vines swinging, as they came into a jeweled, illustrious center.

The smuggler let out a low whistle as the glittering portions came into view, eyes rounding in some avaricious glee. “Shiiiit,” because her hands would long to grab and snag and take all of them home without a semblance of thought. Capricious at best.

--

Open Plant SE (Spinebloom (infected variant - The Climb): Once a vibrant flower with razor-sharp petals, the Spinebloom has succumbed to the influence of void energy. The petals now emit an eerie, dim glow, and their edges have become even sharper. Touching the Spinebloom now can cause an unsettling numbness, and the once sweet fragrance has turned into a foul, otherworldly scent.) and part of Melita's quest to snag a gore crow and its feathers.

the honeybee

Bring me the riot in your heart
angry, wild, and raw

// so if i fly too far
will i still have a place inside your heart? //

Melita is the last person he expects to see here as he makes the short trek to the Climb post meeting up with Frey. A short little divergence, this time drifting into the bellows of Soulfire Reach when the thought of snagging something sparkling for Hotaru crosses his mind. But regardless of the surprise, it’s a welcome one, bringing a warm smile to the Flood’s face as Petronella scrambles on his shoulders in an effort to greet the Accepted first with a nasally growled mewl of greeting.

“Hey heuningby.” Sunjata says by greeting, drifting closer and looking as though the weight of the world had been lifted off of his shoulders. “What’d you find?” Because the echo of the shiiiit had certainly reached him, regardless of how quiet she had said it, and he shuffles the bag onto his shoulder a bit higher to come and inspect the thing that’s distracted her.

the flood

// and when you see what i've become
will you love me for who i am, not who i was? //

bring me your suffering
the rattle roar of broken bones

She didn’t jump at the sound of his voice or the cub mewling, but turned swiftly, abruptly. “Oh, hey,” because she figured he’d still be in King’s End, sovereigning about. Pretending she didn’t have something to tell him, she opted for the more obvious route. “I’m looking for gore crows or rock sliders,” she echoed again, but then pointed at the plant nearby. “Besides the best fucking rocks, of course, there’s uh…that?” The aforementioned spinebloom persisted in remaining really fucking weird – pointy and serrated, haunting and eerie, and she once more had to coax Sila and Fangorn away from its ravenous portions.

Besides all those marvelous, wonderous things, her brow arched, countering inquiries with one of her own. “What’re you doing here?”

the honeybee

Bring me the riot in your heart
angry, wild, and raw

// so if i fly too far
will i still have a place inside your heart? //

“Oh what for?” Sunjata asks, nearing closer and probing ever so slightly – purely for curiosity, and of course if he could help he would. But as she points to the plant, Sunjata’s attention focuses on that particular shift, nose wrinkling in distaste as he spies the sharpened edges of the plant that seem far more terrible than he can remember. Let alone the smell, sure that it had been something at least pleasant before. Even Petronella hides away against his shoulder’s in response. “It seems something’s been effecting plants around here. The river stars in King’s End are way more aggressive right now.” So likely something of the same, if it were any indicators by the dim glow.

“I was just stopping by after meeting Frey in Torchline. Thought I might grab a shiny trinket to bring home.” Comes his honest answer, shifting his attention to the glittering walls, trying to spy something that might stick out to him as something Hotaru would love in particular, before his attention swings back to her.

the flood

// and when you see what i've become
will you love me for who i am, not who i was? //

bring me your suffering
the rattle roar of broken bones

At least these parameters were easier, simplistic, and her eyes could dart over semblances of plant life, shiny rocks, and maybe wandering animals without too much of a prying zeal. “I asked Ludo to help with a quest for a tooth dagger,” she’d reach for the massive thing, but at the moment she was thoroughly distracted by the flora, and keeping both companions away from it. “Yeah? Have you seen any others?” Only experience in rampant stupidity ensured she too didn’t reach out and touch it; wrinkling her nose at the ominous little thing.

Her head tilted at the Frey meeting line. Aware of how past notions had gone with Safrin, she ventured this one had been quite different, but knowing which aspect he dealt with, she wasn’t certain she wanted to know any other information. “Oh. Did it go well?”

the honeybee

Bring me the riot in your heart
angry, wild, and raw

// so if i fly too far
will i still have a place inside your heart? //

“Oh nice.” Sunjata hums, flashing Melita a small smile at the idea. A tooth dagger sounded brutal, something that would be perfect for the fiery young woman. But the smile falters slightly into a grimace at the fact that there was more, nodding with a sigh that leaves him. “Yes. So far, a strange flower in Torchline like the native ones but is grey instead of red or orange. The river stars there and in King’s End are also more aggressive. And a strange flower in Hak Etme that can cause nightmares.” All bad things that remind him so much of the blight that he can’t help the slight shiver that runs down his spine as he steps away from the plant that Melita investigates, eye on a particularly glittering sapphire on the wall.

He reaches up to tug at it as her question hits him over his meeting with Frey. “It went really well, actually.” He says, hand shifting to claws to try and dig the stone out. “I’m not sure what I did, but apparently I’ve surpassed Remi and Ronin in something? Frey told me I was the first to get this far and I can’t quite figure it out, other than I’m much stronger now and have recently gotten a large influx of abilities.” The stone comes loose and he turns to Melita with a bright smile. “I can turn into a hydra now. And uh, apparently I’m immortal.” The last bit is said with a wince, one thing that he hadn’t really wanted all things considered, but he wasn’t going to say no to the gods that wished to grant it to him.

the flood

// and when you see what i've become
will you love me for who i am, not who i was? //

bring me your suffering
the rattle roar of broken bones

How she’d missed the strange flowers in Torchline, King’s End, or Hak Etme was probably more luck than anything else, but all the information left her with a slight snarl, maneuvering away from the plant. Distracting Fangorn, Sila, and herself with the nearest shiny stone, she tapped on the opal-hued rock, muttering around the information. “Shit’s all going to hell again," as if they were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Something else to unfurl beneath their feet.

The other notations parsed through her uncle’s meeting with Frey meant she abandoned the shiny particles for a moment to stare. Surpassing Remi and Ronin. Immortality. Hyrdras. Her brow arched before furrowing further, pondering if there was some other complexity around it, or it’d simply happened. “Huh. Well, congratulations,” she wouldn’t want to be immortal, personally; she’d seen enough loved ones perish, outliving them for the sake of carrying on. Doing it over and over again a vicious cycle was a bit much, even for those most vehement and barbaric. “Whatcha gonna do with all the new stuff?”

the honeybee

Bring me the riot in your heart
angry, wild, and raw

// so if i fly too far
will i still have a place inside your heart? //

He has to agree, as they step away from the plant with extreme razor sharp petals. “As long as I don’t get the blight again.” Sunjata murmurs, nose wrinkling and exhaling a soft sigh as he starts to use his shirt to rub off the collected dust on the face of the sapphire he’d plucked, turning back to the Honeybee as he mentions his recent meeting with Frey.

It had been a surprise, of course, unsure just how he’d surpassed Ronin and Remi, but there’s an air of confidence that results in the easy smile that he offers her. Something like all the tension and weight of his attempts at atoning, gone in the wind. “Thanks.” It’s a genuine smile that blooms on his face as Petronella settles against his shoulders again, tucking in despite the heat. “Not sure, really. I guess just practice it in case I need to use it, but until then I’m just going to keep working on King’s End.” He murmurs, stepping over toward Melita with an easy smile.

“Check out this one, though.” He ensures that he’s close enough to Melita to conjure the shield of water – the cool sensation of it as it spins around them in a shield blurring out only slightly what happens beyond it for the few seconds he makes it appear. It keeps out the intense heat of the Climb before he makes it vanish again – the dry lava rack starting to suck up the water greedily in the absence of his magic holding onto it. But with it, a splash of water as it departs hits his bare forearm where the absence of tattoos sit, sparking to life with little black floral designs where his skin shines.

the flood

// and when you see what i've become
will you love me for who i am, not who i was? //

bring me your suffering
the rattle roar of broken bones

“Same,” she murmured, because recalling the blight and all its ministrations, machinations, and grasp it had on her was vastly unpleasant. It’d only heightened the absolute barbarity of her existence, reignited what it meant to lose all control, and while she was an impulsive, emboldened thing, she still only attacked and sieged with clarity, with reason – not intending to be a miserable mess of a monster.

Pocketing the opal stone and moving on to another, listening to hear if there were any approaching animals, she turned her attention in between the rocks and her uncle. The mention of King’s End gave her a slight inward grimace, but she kept it away from her features; some residual sense of foreboding led astray. “Seems like a good idea,” she gave instead, and would’ve meandered towards a sapphire gleaming nearby, had he not started unfurling a newfound ability.

To which her eyes widened to see the shield, a sanctity and shelter in between the vastness of heat and the Climb itself, unwavering and solid and incorporeal all at once. “Oooh, neat,” and she clapped wholeheartedly, meaning it. “That’ll come in handy if shit continues hitting the fan,” more or less. The Honeybee expected it to, anyway.

the honeybee

Bring me the riot in your heart
angry, wild, and raw

// so if i fly too far
will i still have a place inside your heart? //

Both having been inflicted with the blight was not a memory Sunjata enjoyed frequenting. Not only was it the memory of the mood swings, but the fact his blood had turned black had sparked some deep rooted sensation he couldn’t quite place that set his teeth on edge and his muscles immediately tense. So he exhales it out with a soft sigh, agreement in the low rumble of his voice before he turns the topic onto something better and easier to focus on.

He's plucked the sapphire from the wall, explaining his meeting with Frey, before wandering over to her side to show her one of the little tricks, a bright smile blossoming onto his face and a flicker of light that seems to dance along his scars in a strike of lightning. He lets the shield go back to the earth of the Climb while Melita comments and claps and the grin tugs on his face lopsidedly as he nods. “Gods willing.” He winces slightly before he spots an emerald nearby and steps away from her to pluck that from the wall as well.

“I also can heal now. That rain I tried to create when we flew our kites was part of a quest that gave me the ability to use it to heal allies and damage enemies.” A double whammy of benefits as far as the Flood was concerned.

the flood

// and when you see what i've become
will you love me for who i am, not who i was? //

bring me your suffering
the rattle roar of broken bones

Choosing not to dwell any further on blight situations, the youth plunged onward, listening to newfound skills and abilities while she scoured for more pretty gems. “Oooh, fuckin’ sweet,” in both gesture to the ruby she was plucking from the wall, and the rain healing/damage maelstrom. “I have a feather thing for healing, but I’ll have to ask another god,” since Ludo wasn’t into the repairing vibes –

Off in the distance, something she actually wanted to hear (for once) catered and called from the distance – enough to set Fangorn slightly on edge and Sila’s wings unfurled. MEAT. EYES.

Ah, right on cue.

Utterly delighted, the youth placed her newfound jewel in her pockets and retrieved her bow. “C’mon. Let’s go fuck up some crows.”

the honeybee

Bring me the riot in your heart
angry, wild, and raw

// so if i fly too far
will i still have a place inside your heart? //

A soft hum of a laugh leaves him, a nod of agreement as he pockets the emerald as well, listening as she explains seeking out another god to create something for healing. “Nature Frey perhaps might be willing to help.” He knows her well enough to know that she wouldn’t go and seek out his parent deity, but that didn’t mean the nature Frey aspect was the same. Anyone else but Safrin, realistically, in his mind.

His head lifts as the sound echoes down the cavern in the distance, though, Sunjata ensuring that he’s gotten his gemstones settled in his pocket where they won’t be lost, moving as Melita gathers her bow. “Oh, gladly.” He rumbles, creating more of that water to dance around him as he follows the Honeybee, fully prepared to get to practice some of his newfound tricks.

the flood

// and when you see what i've become
will you love me for who i am, not who i was? //

bring me your suffering
the rattle roar of broken bones

She’d considered Frey’s Nature aspect, given Safrin wasn’t an option (and she wouldn’t fucking want to – let’s be real), so she nodded while obtaining necessary weaponry. Some forethought had been placed within, since she needed feathers, she didn’t want to go in with fire blazing and lose the whole lot of ‘em. Maybe she’d stick to ice.

Giving the silent warning to Sila and Fangorn alike, she advanced alongside her uncle, who seemed just as fervent, following after the echoes of MEAT until they rounded another bend in the cavern. This one had a whole host of jewels and gems as well, but also a flock of five obnoxious cretins – gazing down at them down with beady, widened eyes, perhaps hoping their prey had come to them.

Not likely; but some creatures could always dare to dream.

“Going for the one on the left,” she announced, notching her bow and letting the icy bombardments free before the birds could even begin to take flight.

the honeybee

Bring me the riot in your heart
angry, wild, and raw

// so if i fly too far
will i still have a place inside your heart? //

It was the aspect that made sense for him, given that Safrin wasn’t around (yet). So with the subject passed in favor for fucking up some gore crows, Sunjata holds onto the water, swirling around him and glinting light that reflects from the gemstones as they move deeper into the caverns. Petronella curls up against his shoulders, knowing well enough the tension and through the bond what’s to come, and smartly realizing she’s still too young to do much of anything to help (as if Sunjata would let her given what had happened to Haai).

They breach the next cavern and Sunjata can hear the echoes of the birds, like ink flooding the ceiling and blotting out the stones. Melita fires her arrow for the one on the left and Sunjata hums a note of understanding, followed by a "I'll take right.". The water darts out like an arrow of his own, aiming for the one on the right, aiming to latch on with his grappling version of the water to throw it down to the ground.

the flood

// and when you see what i've become
will you love me for who i am, not who i was? //