Event - Becoming

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Becoming

The message below goes out to all devices on the ADI network on March 16th.

un: n.lehrer

To All Staff,

We have received a tip from a former client and have conducted follow-up investigation into an art and science exhibit located in Buffalo, New York. There have been sightings of unusual animals in the Buffalo area and several people have gone missing after visiting the exhibit.

Anyone wishing to aid in the investigation should report to Pam Ruan to arrange for group travel to and from Buffalo. Austin Yeats, whom some of you may be familiar with from our mission in Wolf Pen last year, will be your contact for this work in the field. I will be joining at the end of the week if this issue has not been resolved.

To be explicit: As with all of ADI's assignments outside of Gloucester, participation here is voluntary. We have other work close to home that always needs addressing. Dogtown continues to show troubling anomalies. Be safe as you can, folks, and always travels in groups. We all need that reminder sometimes. ADI isn't a place well-suited for lone wolves.

- Nia Lehrer, Warden

➥ Exhibiting Odd Behaviors

(cw: thalassophobia, uncanny valley, scopophobia, mannequin-like creatures, potential for limb loss)

You’ve been on a bus before. Probably. Maybe. Well, if you volunteered to go check out the touring Art Exhibit in Buffalo, you’re about to be well acquainted with them. The nine hour drive on the ADI-provided bus is…fine. For a bus. Uneventful, assuming you and your neighbor get along. There’s an economy hotel ready and waiting for weary travelers to bunk up (two to a room,) get some rest, and then head out the next day for the exhibit to open its doors.

The Buffalo Museum of Science itself is a decent size, two stories with wide halls all painted a neutral gray-beige to better lend focus to the art installations it hosts. There’s plenty to see here, the usual offerings of the museum from traditional art pieces, to massive dinosaur skeletons, to intricate sculptures on dais. The wing housing the traveling exhibit and the point of the trip is its own sight to see. Dynamic lighting around a large square opening creates the visual effect of the frame twisting and warping in place. Just outside, an effusive sign declaring “Seeing the Unseeable: Where Science Meets Art” stands, seeming to melt and reform on its supports while welcoming visitors of all ages.

Inside the exhibit is a decently sized array of art from canvas pieces that offer twisting perspectives and looping images to displays of light that guests can interact with to warp their reality. Step into a plastic dome to make it seem all the color has been leached from your skin, walk through a tunnel that seems like the walls reach in to squeeze you and the floor rises to meet you without either moving.

A few exhibits are even more…lively. A medium-sized sculpture of what look like stick-figure men made of twisted iron all climb over each other, with the tallest one reaching towards the light that shines above it. At least it does for a moment. There’s an odd creaking and tapping as you pass it by. Turn back to look and that top-most figure is missing along with a few friends. The tapping of little metal feet carries the figures off and around the corner. Be mindful if you try to chase after it, there’s no running allowed in the building!

A hall-staged exhibit that warps sound to turn a whisper to a shout and vice-versa sits near an unassuming set of five portraits, each lovingly rendered down to the smallest, perfect, detail. A heart rests on a bush like a berry and those who venture nearby can hear the gentle, steady, beat of it, despite its stillness. A portrait of a richly brown eye stares out over the room. Except for when it’s staring at you. Is it always staring at you? Surely not. The hand seems innocuous enough, though pass by it and the sensation of someone grazing past your arm passes too. The one of a foot is perfectly innocent, even if an odd smell permeates the area. The last portrait is one of a mouth in every wrinkled and lined detail it has to offer. It boasts a sign that simply says “Do not touch. Do not feed.”

One of the largest pieces on offer takes up the entire end of a hallway, the lights leading up to the expanse of deep blue on canvas growing more and more dim as the sounds of the museum drift away. It’s nearly peaceful, if a bit chilly off in this corner. Isolating. Distant. Stand there long enough, and a sharp eye might notice the canvas ripple at the edges like the edges of a pond. A low gurgle and pop of bubbles highlights the deep, muffled, quality of the acoustics as though far beneath the surface of the sea. Movement at the corner of your eye might catch your attention and there, in the distance of the gloom, is a black speck…and it’s growing larger. Closer and closer the blotch looms until it begins to take an eel-like shape. It moves too quickly in the gloom to see much more, but the massive reflection of an eye fills the floor-to-ceiling canvas as the subject of the piece seems to pass you by.

Perhaps the oddest thing of all about this exhibit is the fact plenty of people seem to pass by or look at the same exhibits as you pause briefly, and then move on as though nothing at all of note was seen.

➥ A Puzzling Evolution

(cw: body horror, transformation, uncanny valley, mention of tooth-loss)

Can you figure out which path leads to human evolution?

The sign is prominently featured in front of multiple displays around the museum, each with an interactive screen. At the start, it shows a microorganism floating in an ocean. Those interacting with the display will be given two choices: EAT MORE or HIDE BETTER. Questions continue in this vein as the organism grows more complex and takes its leave of the ocean… and possibly returns. GROW MORE LEGS or GROW WINGS? SPECIALIZE or EAT EVERYTHING? The majority of the choice paths lead to the extinction of the evolving species, sadly, while every other path that provides a final evolved form seems to lead to either a weasel or a crab. How do you get to a human via evolution? It may yet remain a mystery, unless you look through the rest of the exhibit, perhaps!

You may have considered the interactive display a frustrating (and potentially inaccurate) annoyance, or perhaps you enjoyed the game you played that led you to a photo of a cute crab or weasel, and didn't think anything else of it as the whole evolution sequence can take rather a long time to get through. In either case, it's at least an hour later before you start to notice that something is… off. Your neck is starting to feel oddly stiff, like you've been craning it. Or there's a spot of hard skin on the back of your hand that's starting to itch. When did that turn up? Are you allergic to something? Maybe it's not a physical change, but rather, something that's more in your head. You're starting to feel an urge to find a nice, dark place to hide. It might be better if it were a bit moist. Or perhaps something earthy, just so long as it's somewhere you can watch from.

The changes will become more rapidly apparent over the next several hours as people's necks, bodies, and faces elongate, whiskers pop out of their faces, tails from their backsides, and their human teeth begin to fall out, replaced by tiny fangs. Others might find sections of their skin turning to a caparace-like consistency as the hair falls out. Their bodies becoming armored and segmenting themselves in odd ways as new limbs push forth. It would seem that this is how 'human' evolution happens. It's a potentially excruciating process for some, while others might experience milder pain or discomfort as their bodies shift and warp. Or their minds trend toward a more animalistic mindset.

What's worse is that the transformation effects are almost difficult to spot at first thanks to the enforced glamour that everyone who is part of ADI has placed on them. That seems to struggle with the rapid changes occurring, though, and might even break down completely for some before reestablishing itself. The monsters are out and about in the museum, it would seem.

Everyone will need to work together to locate and destroy the interactive displays before they find themselves becoming the animals they've learned about in the museum. Work quickly now, and the changes might not be permanent… for some.

Probably also best to do that and leave quickly, the police being what they are. ADI will happily provide rapid transport away from the museum and Buffalo once work has been completed. The lead field agent, Austin, will just have to deal with the locals, himself, in the ensuing fallout. It's probably fine. And those live weasels and crabs that have apparently been found around the museum grounds? That's also probably fine. Curious that ADI personnel don't appear to have transformed nearly as quickly as those who aren't part of ADI. You had a fighting chance, at least!

➥ For All Your Burning Questions

(cw: references to chronic pain and body horror; likely references to domestic abuse)

26M ex-desolation avatar, GBBO fan, part petroleum jelly now ig, AMA

The message appears on the network shortly after the volunteers depart for Buffalo, conveniently timed to provide entertainment for their bus ride as well as a distraction for those who stayed back in Gloucester. Screened to make it private for only ADI's off-worlders, the text message originates from the account of Bonnie Gale of Bonnie's Flophouse fame. This is unusual both because Bonnie rarely, if ever, makes an appearance on the network (who knew she still had an account?)...and because it's not sent by Bonnie at all.

Hey ADI offworlders, as the title says I'm your resident circus boy retired from lighting stuff on fire now (thanks for not killing me btw). Every waking moment is agony but what goes around comes around i guess. This is Pyre for everyone I met before and if I didn't meet you before it's a long story? It turns out my dad wanted to end the world and the guy I thought was like a dad was just making me into a monster to help him do that, and they're both dead now and I get why you killed them but I'm not going to say it doesn't suck.

Anyway sorry for setting all that stuff on fire around town, I was going through some things and I'm working on myself now. I'm an open book, ask me anything. No pictures tho.

For at least a few days, the private post flies under the radar and Pyre will be available to bounce back answers to questions about his life pre- and post-avatarhood, his attempts at the apocalypse, his attack on Gloucester, his passion for the Great British Bake Off, his current jelly-like state of being, and anything else people care to ask him.

➥ Hush, Hush

(cw: spiders, swarms, webs, massive creatures, blood, body horror, mention of skin-based horror, loss of control, cosmic horror)

Those who rode on Gus the Bus will notice that they've begun to have strange nightmares of late. Even those who should not be able to dream. It's not every night. In fact, it doesn't even seem to happen consistently. Not every dream is precisely the same, either, but there's a definite… theme.

Something too massive to fully see or comprehend looms over and all around you as you find yourself waking in a cobweb-infested forest. Dogtown? Possibly. It seems like the right species of trees. You're left to wander for a bit- there's always this moment of calm where you can take in your surroundings. The sky is a pitch black and looks… close. It's not the night sky, really. It feels more like it's a thing above you. There is some manner of ambient light, though, because you can see.

The wandering cannot last, though, and something speaks, the sound vibrating through you to your teeth. What it says you cannot know. You're not even sure there are words so much as impressions. Things that move beyond the veil of this world, that press in at its edges but cannot tear through. Not yet. But whatever veil is there is thin and thinning more in one particular spot. The sharp tang and smell of blood fills your mouth and nose as you bleed for the 'listening.' A long, enormous leg, big enough to impale you and hundreds of others reaches down through the trees and gently caresses your hair.

It's after this that the dream changes. Once, perhaps, you'll find that the forest disgorges thousands of tiny spiders that swarm toward you, fit themselves into your mouth, your nose, your ears, any place they can find an inroad. You are being filled up with spiders. Another time, you find your body already writhing with something. Looking down, you'll find there are spiders squirming out from the sack of your skin, hollowing you out as all that was you simply skitters away. Yet another time, you might find that your limbs have been wrapped in strings and you'll be puppeted about.

And when you wake from these nightmares, it is not always in your bed. Instead, you might find that you've already started breakfast, you're already taking a shower, or you might even have fully dressed and seen yourself off to work. You can remember nothing about what came before waking, but for those who might encounter sleepers, they'll see someone going about a self-care morning routine, whatever that might mean for you.

It's helpful! Don't worry about something else taking control for a little while. You probably didn't do anything sinister. Right?

➥ Mod Notes

• GENERAL - Players are welcome to play background NPCs for themselves when they are needed in a thread. If you need more information on general behavior for these types of NPCs, please feel free to ask! In general, the information provided in the prompts should be sufficient and ordinary people will act like… ordinary people! You're welcome to make up any details for your specific scene. Also, please remember that character deaths are permanent and plan accordingly!
  
  
• EXHIBITING ODD BEHAVIORS (16-20 March) - Characters may sit with whoever they’d like for the trip to Buffalo and back, roommates for the hotel can either be chosen or randomized, as you prefer and while a museum buddy isn’t required (you’re mostly adults here) it is encouraged. Players are more than welcome to come up with whatever technology, light, or art-based exhibits they like as long as it fits the general theme of an altered reality, most of the displays are perfectly harmless, if a strain to the mind.
  
  For the ‘lively’ displays, the iron stick men can be caught and returned to the display, they will make a game of escaping and stay when returned for a little while, at least. (And they make rusty iron hinge sounds when caught!) All of the displays are marked with the traditional ‘do not touch’ warning, but anyone who ignores that advice for the body part portraits will find they feel…alarmingly realistic. Plus, the mouth will, in fact, bite and chew anything it is fed.
  
  Please note that while the Buffalo Museum of Science is a real museum and players are welcome to draw on information available online to supplement their understanding of its layout and exhibits, the version of the museum presented here is fictionalized, much like our setting of Gloucester and the surrounding region in general.
  
  
• A PUZZLING EVOLUTION (20 March) - Only characters who followed the game path all the way to a weasel or crab outcome will be affected by the display. Players are welcome to visit whatever grotesque changes they would like upon their characters provided that they follow the theme of weasels or crabs. Your character might even be the unlucky one who tried for all of the possible endings in that game and winds up as a weasel-crab hybrid. The transformations should be uncomfortable in some way for characters, and may be excruciatingly painful at player discretion. They cannot result in any advantages to characters that would be impossible to replicate without a patron Entity. E.g., 'Armored' skin is fine, but it's not going to stop bullets. Gills are fine, but they will not allow characters to sustain themselves underwater for longer than what could be achieved by a human in peak physical condition.
  
  The glamour effect on everyone will waver throughout this ordeal, so nonhuman characters and those undergoing transformation will be intermittently, VISIBLY nonhuman. Please assume that NPCs will act accordingly. Either double-taking if the nonhuman characteristics are visible for only a moment or running scared for a security officer if the changes last. Characters CAN be arrested. ADI will work to get them released, but they may lose valuable time if this happens. Changes can also be limited to wholly mental effects. The changes that occur can either be permanent or something that vanishes once all of the displays are destroyed. Characters who attempt a more technologically-based approach to looking into the code of the computers or trying to hack it will find nothing apparently supernatural. This is something that science cannot explain, oddly enough.
  
  
• FOR ALL YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS (16-31 March) - It seems the network admins have their hands full, as the private post will fly under the radar…unless, of course, someone chooses to inform them. As a reminder, Pyre was spared from death by player vote in December 2022 and hidden at Bonnie's Flophouse. After a few weeks Pyre's attention span will peter out and he'll lose interest in the post. In the meantime, however, he will do his best to answer any and all questions, but will be unwilling to show what remains of his face in person or in photographs.
  
  
• HUSH, HUSH (16 March - Ongoing) - Only characters with the spiderweb tattoos from Gus will experience the nightmares. These can happen as frequently or as infrequently as players would like. There are no patterns to be found either in individuals or a group as to when they occur, only that they are occurring as a result of the encounter with Gus. Those who witness sleepers while they're dreaming will likely not be able to tell that the people are asleep. They don't speak, but their eyes are open and they seem to respond in some way that would be expected. If you would like your character to have got up to mischief while they're sleepwalking, that is more than welcome. Generally, the spider dreams will lead to a simple self-care morning, but they might occasionally lead to characters committing small acts of vandalism and terror that they will have no memory of.
  
  

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Comments

[edalyn]

Eda let out a little huff. "Texting takes having thumbs--" she began, but then as she watched Raine the whole thing got... less funny.

Seeing them try to hide themself, their changes, she couldn't help remembering her own moments of trying to hide her feathers, her claws, her eyes. She stopped pressing herself against the door and approached them slowly.

"Hey... it's okay," she said, a little softer. "I'm glad you're safe too."

She wanted to pull them into a hug, but that would have been tricky between the way they were crouched and the way she was currently built. She also sort of wanted to nuzzle their face or kiss their forehead, but she wasn't sure if that was the best idea with the amount of teeth she had right now.

Eda settled on sitting back on her haunches and just kind of rubbing the side of her head against their shins. Like a cat. This is fine.

"You can say that again about today. But... c'mon. Come down from there?"

[rainestorms]

Raine felt a pang of guilt when Eda mentioned she needed thumbs to reply- Raine hadn't considered that she couldn't answer because of thumbs. Raine's body relaxed in response to being coaxed out of their huddle on the shelf almost involuntarily. It was Eda, after all, and they knew at the end of the day she just wanted them to be safe.

Raine couldn't help but tear up as Eda showed them affection. Rubbing her head on them like a cat was.. odd, but Raine appreciated it more than she probably realised. They pet her hair in response, careful of their claws.

When asked to come down off the shelf they wordlessly obliged, and clambered down. They did their best to pull Eda into an embrace despite both of their weasel-like properties, and buried their face deep into her shoulder. Raine felt bad for seeming angry at her- it was apparent that Eda had taken the brunt of the weasel game.

"I'm sorry," they only lift their head enough for her to hear. "We'll figure this out together. Right?"

[edalyn]

Eda leaned in just a little as she felt Raine pet her hair, and while she was a bit startled by the hug, it meant more to her than she wondered if they realised. She wasn't the owlbeast, exactly, but she was certainly a beast at the moment. The fact they didn't seem to care made her very nearly tear up.

She really wasn't built for hugs, but she leaned against them, pressed a paw against their back to hold them close, and nuzzled into their hair.

"Yeah... yeah, we'll figure it all out." Soon. For now she just let them hold her. There was a soft purring sound in the back of her throat. Well. That was new.

[rainestorms]

Raine had to counter her weight so they wouldn't fall over when Eda leaned on them, but the gentle head nuzzle and the embrace nonetheless comforted Raine. They quietly held Eda, until...

"Are you... purring?"

Raine peered up at Eda the best they could without breaking their embrace. They tried to fight the small, bewildered laugh that forced its way up their throat.

It came out as a very strained, quiet: "That's... kind of cute.."

They quickly realise they just called Eda cute. While they don't want to backtrack in a way that seems like they didn't actually mean it, they do feel the need to play it off in a cool manner.

"B-but we should still probably figure out how to.. get back to normal as soon as possible."

[edalyn]

Eda let out an awkward, startled little laugh. The hug was surprising enough, but she really hadn't expected them to call her cute right now. Though she couldn't even argue the point, given she really did appear to have been purring. She hoped if she was blushing it didn't show through all the fur.

She wasn't quite sure what to say, so maybe it was for the best how fast they moved on.

"Right now the idea is uh, break the games. Unless you've got a better one." Either way, it was easier said than done--trying to find them all while staying out of sight was a challenge, and they didn't even know if this would work to reverse everything.

[rainestorms]

Raine could see hints of blush from Eda. They weren't going to comment on it, but Titan did it make Raine want to complement and shower her in affection even more.

Now was not the time for that, though.

"I don't think I do. I was considering destroying the games as an option but I wasn't sure if it would work so I.. didn't know if that was a good idea," they paused for a moment, thinking. "The biggest problem right now is other people but.. I can maybe figure out how to cause a distraction. I'd have to use some uh.. Web things but. It's doable. I think."

They knew Eda wasn't very fond of the Web, but they were running out of options. And time.

[edalyn]

Eda shifted in a way that was probably meant to be a shrug. She doesn't know for certain it's a good idea either, but it's what they've got. There's a pause after their suggestion, though.

"If... if you think you'll need it." Her hesitance isn't just about her thoughts on the Web. It's more a matter of her concern for Raine themself. She knew firsthand that once you started feeding the Entities it was hard to stop; and secondhand she'd seen people go down that path in ways that were deeply worrying. But she still fed the Hunt, when she thought it was worth it, and she trusted Raine to make their own decisions.

She pulled them a little closer. It was meant to be supportive, affectionate--but it was possible she pressed her claws into their back slightly by accident.

[rainestorms]

Raine sighed at Eda's hesitance. It wasn't disappointment, but rather a tired, defeated sigh. They knew she didn't like The Web. They didn't quite understand the deeper more personal intricacies of her dislike, but Raine still felt bad.

"I don't want to use it, but it could help distract people from us destroying the exhibit."

The tighter hug was appreciated, but what followed was sharp pricks on their back that made them squirm, and grasp her a little tighter- though squirming hurt, and they didn't quite connected that they had claws of their own.

"Eda! Your claws, Eda- that- it hurts a little."

[edalyn]

It was possible Eda was going to clarify what she meant, in response to their sigh and their tone. She was quickly distracted, though.

"Oh--sorry, I--sorry," Eda stammered slightly as she quickly stopped squeezing them. She'd stopped thinking about how she was shaped for a moment there. It had been nice, up until now.

"Yours are, uh... kinda sharp too," she pointed out after a little pause, sounding almost relieved about the fact it wasn't just her as much as she was probably asking them to be careful. Her fur and feathers went a long way towards making it hard to actually scratch her anyway.

[rainestorms]

"It's fine— Eda I—" Raine didn't want Eda to let them go, they just didn't want to be... stabbed?

They loosen their grip on Eda to give her space, if she wanted. But in an effort to try and not make her feel bad, they stay close.

"Oh, I know," They do their best at a grin. "I'm even a little taller, I think. But... somehow I'm still shorter than you. I can't keep up."

Raine's smile wavered a little. They didn't want to be like this, but they worried that they'd upset Eda if they talked about it in a certain way so they're careful with their words.

"I... do want to get back to normal, though. As fun as being a little taller and a little pointier is. I can't properly play my violin like this."

And that's all they had in a means of protecting themself. They don't say that part out loud, but it's implied in the way they glanced behind Eda, at the door. They contemplate on waiting a little longer, on asking Eda a few more questions, but instead, they decide to get straight to the point.

"We need to come up with a plan."

[edalyn]

Raine’s comments on their height got a snort. She’d definitely tease them more about all of it if they had more time.

It was… endearing, the way she could tell they were choosing their words carefully. But she felt a little bad that they thought they had to. She gave them another little nuzzle against their shoulder to reassure them, before pulling away a bit again. Raine wasn't wrong that they should focus on planning.

"Trust me, I want us back to normal too, Rainstorm," she assured them.

"We just need a big enough distraction—" she trailed off suddenly, noticing her form start to flicker. A moment later the ADI glamour reasserted itself, for the moment at least.

She looked human, which might help matters. She also happened to have squirmed her way out of her jacket when it had stopped fitting entirely. Without long sleeves or feathers, something she'd been doing her best to hide and ignore was visible, though she didn't think about it just yet.

To add, she assumed, insult to injury, the simple yet bold design of a spiderweb was on her wrist, exactly where a coven sigil would be on another witch.

[rainestorms]

Raine was quick to take notice of Eda's glamour flickering back on. They looked her over, and almost missed the thing on Eda's wrist- a tattoo, one that looked eerily like a coven sigil.

"What is that?" They asked, alarmed, and gently took Eda's arm. They wanted to touch the web-shaped tattoo on her wrist, but hesitated when their eyes met their own sigil. Raine suddenly felt nauseous. It was too similar to the sigils, and Raine's mind raced with the panic of how they knew Eda never wanted this. They never wanted this for her. Ever. But it was here, and it was their patron's doing. It only added insult to injury.

"Why.. why didn't you tell me about this, Eda?"

There's hurt at the edges of their voice.

"How long have you had this? If you'd told me, I could've helped or began to try and find a way to get it removed I- this is-"

Raine bit back the admission that it forced old feelings of fear and hurt from when she'd hidden her curse. But it felt raw, and real, and Raine could hardly look at Eda without feeling upset- they could hardly look away from the tattoo.

[edalyn]

Eda was too focused on their weasel problems—and on whether her glamour gave her the option to go break some evolution games without needing so much of a plan—to notice what had caught Raine's attention until they grabbed her arm.

She didn't pull away from them, but her face fell and she looked down. Their worry was warranted, and being angry would be too. But the hurt in their tone was hard to handle. It had felt like she had reasons that were different than they were in the past, with the curse, but now they suddenly felt… not as different as she thought. Or like they wouldn't sound different. Or both.

Eda took a deep breath, because panicking and spiraling before they even had the conversation wouldn't help anyone.

“I've had it since… a little before you got here,” she admitted. “There was a weird bus ride involved.”

“And it's… Raine so much has happened here and I was already dropping so much of it on you all at once,” she began, still not pulling away but starting to rub at the spot with her other hand.

“It felt like– like just yet another thing to worry over that you couldn't fix. On top of everything else.” She still wasn't meeting their eyes, for the time being.

“And I don’t know what it is. It’s not… I mean it’s not a coven sigil. Not a real one. It doesn’t effect my powers–hell it’s not even the right one for that.” Not that she’d be any happier having a sigil for the Hunt. There was more to why she’d been trying to ignore it, but she stopped there, not sure whether it would help to go on or not.

[rainestorms]

Raine felt some level of exhaustion come over them as Eda explained herself. Their head fell a little, eyes still glued to the spiderweb on her arm, the way the ink branched out with such precision.

In a way it seemed to mock them.

"But I could handle it!" They retort, anger in the way they emphasised handle. "I know everything's crazy for me but Eda, this is serious.. if it's doing something to you I could help make sure it doesn't, or. If I'm causing you problems because it's a part of the Web I could've.. I don't know."

They let go of her arm, adjust their glasses further up the bridge of their nose and sigh.

"I know it's not.. this isn't important right now. Right now, we've got to get back to normal," They look back up at Eda, pleadingly. "But you can't hide things like this from me, Eda. I don't. Think I can take that more than anything. I know you were trying to be considerate of.. how adjusting has been for me, but I don't need you to protect me from things. I can handle it."

[edalyn]

Eda flinched just slightly at their tone, not because she thought they'd do anything beside be angry, but because she felt bad they were upset all the same. She looked even more unhappy when they mentioned their concerns about the Web, and when she glanced back up at their pleading expression that was perhaps worst of all.

There was more she wanted to say, but... she suspected she should wait for a better time. Talk about the whole thing more when they weren't dealing with being weasels of all things.

For now, she just sighed. "Okay," she said, softly. "No more secrets. Promise." She did her best at a reassuring smile, albeit not a happy one.

And maybe she should have stopped there, but she felt the need to add something else after a brief pause.

"But Raine..." She looked at their face again, her own expression a little more serious.

"You're not causing me problems," she said, more firmly. She'd already been worried they'd think of that. "It happened while you weren't here and... it happened to other people too. It's just— it's just this place."

[rainestorms]

Raine felt a pang of guilt as Eda flinched from their tone. They recoiled back into themself, and wrung their wrists. Part of them wanted to argue, to tell Eda she needed to prove that it wouldn't happen again. But they weren't kids anymore. Raine needed to have some degree of trust. Even if this reminded them too closely of Eda's curse, and how she pushed them away.

So instead, they manage a soft:

"I... Okay."

They don't return the smile, and dropped their gaze to the floor again. When Eda paused, Raine assumed that Eda wanted to move on.. until she didn't. Raine didn't look back up at Eda, but they took her hand, and held it tenderly against their chest, the exhaustion making their body language soften. They closed their eyes, their expression something tight, and almost mournful.

"I know it's this place but I.. I'm scared, Eda. And I know it's what they want but..." They hold her hand tighter. "I just got my best friend back. I'm afraid of losing you again. And I'm afraid I won't be able to stop it from happening. Everything here feels so much like the Covens but somehow worse all the same. Here I can't convince coven guards to not look for you, or convince the other coven heads that I'm on their side so I can work behind their backs. I'm.. I feel powerless. I can hardly even use my magic and it's always at the expense of others now."

[edalyn]

Eda let them take her hand, resting it lightly against their chest—and being careful with the claws, even if they weren't visible.

She tried not to feel even guiltier as they opened up, as they talked about their fears over losing her, over everything they couldn't do. She wished she could reassure them, but she felt like trying would only make things worse. They just needed to know they were in this together.

She also wanted to pull them into another hug, but she wasn't sure if they'd want her to. For the time being she settled for briefly resting her forehead against theirs again.

"I'm scared too, Rainstorm. I was… trying not to be. Because it is what they want. Worrying about this thing feels like… letting them win. I mean the whole point of it is to scare me– us. No one else's looked like a coven sigil, it's a cheap shot–"

She trailed off with a frustrated huff. It was a cheap enough shot that she didn't want to give them the satisfaction.

"But… not telling you was letting it get to me too." Eda paused for a beat as she thought about what she just said.

"Damn it."

Because all at once she felt really, really stupid.

She had done exactly what it intended, hadn't she? The Web fed on fear but through… manipulation. And what better way than the push she needed to fall back into old habits. Especially the ones that would hurt someone else.

It wasn't an excuse, if anything it only made her feel worse. It only worked because hiding things was still her first instinct. Because she didn't see through an obvious play to make her isolate herself.

Her stomach twisted and she felt used.

[rainestorms]

Raine grew quiet, and more reserved as they listened to Eda. Now that they thought of it with a clearer head- she was right. And they'd fallen into the Web's trap as well. The overwhelming sense of dread at the sigil- while not necessarily unwarranted- only served to feed the Web too.

Raine pulled Eda into a hug again when she let out the soft "Damn it," and groaned into.. wherever on her body the glamour's shoulder actually was.

"It's not like I didn't fall for it too." They only lifted their head enough to speak. "I.. reacted the way it wanted me to."

They held tight onto Eda, wishing they could just stay like that, instead of facing what came next.

"I'm not mad at you, I hope I didn't come across that way. I'm sorry if it did."

They don't pull away, but they rest their cheek on Eda and gaze up at her- or rather, her glamour. Humanoid enough to look like Eda, but it didn't look enough like her as it was. They'd grown accustomed to more feathers.

"We need to focus on fixing the weasel problem. Maybe... maybe once we do I can try and help you look into this. See if there's something we can do about it."

[edalyn]

Eda just sighed, and wrapped a front leg around them gently again when they hugged her, pressing her paw against one of their shoulder-blades to hold them close. She didn't want to need the affection, the reassurance, but she couldn't deny the fact it helped. Even if she didn't want them to think the apology was necessary.

"It's okay," she said softly, nuzzling into their hair. She didn't want them to be mad at her, but she couldn't pretend there wasn't a reason, even if they'd both been pushed into the situation. Still, it was nice how fast they followed her train of thought, and it was nice feeling like they were on the same side. She didn't want to believe anything could change that this easily, but the worry nagged at her all the same.

She shifted enough to see how they were looking up at her, and it just made her want to keep holding them even more.

But they were right that they needed to focus on the matter at hand.

"Yeah... yeah, the weasel thing first," she agreed. "But I'd like that. We can figure it out together." At least, she really hoped they could.

"Worst case it's not like I can't do without the arm," she mused, about half-joking. From what she'd heard last time they were here, it was how they'd dealt with her bard sigil, after all.

[rainestorms]

"Weasel thing first," Raine tried to give her as comforting of a smile as they could, but it didn't last.

"Eda, that's. That's a last resort. In fact I wouldn't even consider it an option to begin with," There's alarm in their voice as they pulled back from Eda, and stepped around her towards the door.

Their hand touched the handle, but they hesitate.

"I don't.. I don't want to feed the entities but.. Im not strong enough to destroy the machines. I can help move people out of the way with my magic. If you're okay with me doing that."

Raine finally looked back at Eda, a soft but solemn look on their face.

[edalyn]

"If you say so." She really had partly been joking, but on the other hand, well, she'd rather lose the arm than some other options. But that was a problem for later.

Right now, she found herself hesitating at their question—well, implied question.

"Raine... I don't want you feeding one of these things," she began, trying not to let herself look sad and worried. "But I don't think it's realistic to pretend you're never gonna have to."

And it's not like she doesn't feed the Hunt, even if she has extra factors making that hard to avoid.

"I trust your judgment." The smile she gave them was grim, but determined.

[rainestorms]

Raine brushed off the 'if you say so,' for now. They knew she was joking, but.. sometimes jokes didn't feel like jokes with Eda. They made Raine worry.

Still, they began to muster up the courage to open the door, but found themself caught by what Eda said next. They turned, hand still on the doorknob, attentively listening to Eda. Their expression turned from confusion, to surprise, and then an almost comforted return to Eda's smile. They glanced back at the door, but lowered their head at Eda.

"Thank you, for trusting me," They responded, quite earnestly. "It's nice to hear that you do."

There's a short pause, as Raine stood and quietly looked at Eda for a bit longer. They turn back to the door, though, and turned the handle.

"Let's.. let's get this over with. I want to go home."