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[namuthing]

Make pretty later maybe? Probably not

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[sticksandbonesmods]

As Genya looks for something within the halls of Shadow Milk Cookie's library, something tugs at the back of his mind. The energy feels stranger than usual for a magical laboratory, which is really saying something, isn't it?

It tugs and regardless of if he's aware of it or not, he starts walking.

A whisper tickles his thoughts.

Genya...?

[namuthing]

[Genya had come here for a reason. Shadow Milk Cookie might not be a demon, but he was apparently a threat. It was his duty to investigate, right? Especially after everything Elder Faerie had said. Not that Genya has found anything particularly untoward. Beyond an obnoxiously glittery quill clutched between the fingers of his left hand, things had been... fine?

Until he heard the voice. It was familiar but not, like something he had forgotten. No wonder he had moved toward it, even as his own stomach turns over with nausea. Whose voices had slipped so easily from his mind? He didn't want to know, did he?

But his steps carry him onward all the same. He had a duty to carry out, no matter how tired he was, or how terribly this place had worn down his mind.]

[sticksandbonesmods]

Genya are you there...? My sweet boy...

How fortuitous that he goes unnoticed. The call seems to be coming from the basement, enticing and cold. As he investiages the door to what is hopefully a cleaned up lab for the forbidden magic, the whispering grows louder. There's more. His siblings asking where he is, are they playing a game? Its dark and cold, where are you, Genya?

[namuthing]

Genya's heart rises in the same breath that it sinks. Had it really been so long that he'd forgotten the sound of his mother's voice? His siblings?

"Mom? Mom, I'm coming - " His throat tightens as he mumbles his siblings names, he lays his hands against the door, pressing inward as he steps into the lab.

Everything feels wrong, and he feel so powerless in the face of it. It's just like that night, like coming upon his mother's broken body and Sanemi's bloodied hands. Like then, he feels so weak, little more than a trembling child.

But he isn't. The feather in his palm practically quivers, a murmur to remind him of just what he's capable of.

His teeth rip at the fibers of the feather before he thinks about it, feels his body crack and shift as he swallows. Glittering blue dances at the corners of his eyes as he steps further and further in.

"I'm here, I'm here. 'm sorry I took so long."

[sticksandbonesmods]

It's dark and cold in the laboratory, but everything in his vision blurs save for one thing: a door. It shouldn't exist, shouldn't work- it feels more like a painting or a sculpture than an entrance to what should not be entered...

But it's there.

All the whispers grow so much louder.

I'm here, Genya. I'm here. Just open the door.

[namuthing]

Some part of Genya knows that he shouldn't. Demons are tricky things — and their arts even trickier. Even if that weren't the case, the months he's spent in this place should have conditioned him better for something like this. But those voices? He can still hear the words they said the night they all died, but he can't remember their voices.

Not like this.

The wards in front of him were meant to hold out anyone and everyone, but they had a master. He was their master, as far as the magic was concerned. And as he lifts his hand to claw through the wards, they tear away like paper.

His fingers find the door. Something in the back of his mind, a voice more like a growl than anything, tells him to stop being a fucking idiot. Genya ignores it in favor of pulling as hard as he can.

[sticksandbonesmods]

There is no physical door. And yet, it opens. The cavern is dark, cold as ice and smells... like a garden.

There's a low, feminine voice.

"Poor dear. You didn't stand a chance. But perhaps this abomination against my domain... can grant me an opportunity."

Out steps a woman far taller than anyone else he's ever seen, dressed in black, like she's attending a funeral and a garden party in the same day. She smiles kindly, crouching down to pet Genya's hair.

"I thank you, child, for allowing me a chance to investigate this pocket. ... Oh, but you may wish to flee. The warden will be here soon."

And like that, a green mist knee-high spills into the Grove, and the woman vanishes.

[namuthing]

A chill immediately runs down Genya's spine. He takes one step back, then another, before staring up at the creature that's entered the room. She looks... kind enough, but at the same time, that isn't his Mom immediately in front of him. For all intents and purposes, it feels like yet another trick, and more than anything, he just wants to scream.

But uh, he has more important things to worry about. The second she pats his head, all hell seems to break loose, and his head simply topples from his shoulders. Panic surges through him, knowing full well that something like that should have absolutely killed him. He makes a note to ask Shadow Milk what the fuck is wrong with him -

Before noticing that he isn't as alone as he might have thought.

"... Mom?"

[sticksandbonesmods]

Its her. But not exactly- she didn't wear foreign clothes, after all. But she smiles softly, lovingly, all the same... up until his head topples off, where she shrieks a little and frets as he's clearly- alive? And yet- oh, this is very worrisome-

Genya... oh goodness... you've really struggled lately, haven't you? And I wasn't here... I'm sorry...

[namuthing]

[Even if she looks different, it's still his mother. His poor mother who... died before understanding any of this. From his vantage point in his own damn hands, Genya has the decency to look apologetic. He shifts his stupid head into one hand, before waving her off carefully.]

I-it's okay, Mom, really! This is - it's - [How does he even begin to explain.] I'm okay. And you're - you're okay too? How are you here?

[Actually now that he's thinking about it...]

You are here, right? I could hug you if I wanted?

[jesterlies]

[somewhere behind him a portal opens up. Two people step through and then very suddenly everything grows dark, the shadows slowly overtaking eveything.]

[sticksandbonesmods]

His mother smiles, wrapping her arms around him. There's not a lot of give, but he can feel something present, even if it's so, so very cold around him.

Oh, sweetheart... this is the door to the realm of our Lady Death. All will be here someday. I am still... ... I am not the life you remember, but you are still my sweet boy. And I love you.

... And then the portal opens.

The ghost woman holds Genya to her protectively, unwavering.

[namuthing]

[As much as Genya might decry himself for being weak, he has a good sense for danger. It doesn't surge up as he sinks into his mother's embrace {though not before shoving his head back on his damn shoulders}, but the longer he lingers there? That's when dread begins to pool within his gut. He tastes something akin to berries, with an undercurrent of something floral, and knows that he's in deep shit. He turns sharply, whipping himself in the face with own sparkly blue hair as he tries to make out what's in front him.

{He still has to hold it in place with one hand, unfortunately.}]

S-stay back.

[His free hand falls to his hip, where he pulls out his gun.]

Don't touch her!

[jesterlies]

[Shadow Milk takes in the scene. Some fool has succumbed to the whispers of the door and wrenched it open. He's some how ...showing weird Shadow Milk-like traits. He sees the way he's struggling to hold his head up, how he's blue and sparkly. He does not understand the HOWs of this situation, but he sees that the reason he was not alerted to the breach before he got to the door must have something to do with him being able to mimic him.]

[That kind of pisses him off!! And now the door was open and Creators know what the fuck that will mean.]

Oooooh no, little gnat. You should be much more worried about you.

[The shadows incrouch around them, leaving them in darkness, instead Genya will see eyes open up all around him. Blue and slitted, just covering every surface of this room all staring down at him.]

Do you have any idea what you've done, you fool

[namuthing]

[The shadows press in, almost suffocating in their wrath. Genya should be afraid, any normal human would be. But this, at least, is similar enough to the monsters he has faced before. He twists sharply, facing down one of the eyes. His finger twitches toward the trigger, but he resists the urge to fire blindly for now. He gets the feeling it wouldn't do a damn thing.]

T-that person - she said this place was an abomination -

[There's so much he doesn't understand, not about the spirits, not about Shadow Milk, and certainly not about whoever it was he just confronted.]

Were you keeping them trapped in there? Elder Faerie said you were bad news, so -

1/2

[jesterlies]

THAT FOOLISH KING DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!

[Oops, Genya, you hit a nerve when he was already mad. The entire room practically shakes with his anger. But then. After a moment something changes. The shadows seem to take a breath, inhale- exhale. All at once the recede back, returning the room to it's natural state.]

[jesterlies]

[Shadow Milk hasn't moved from where he entered from the portal and he is doing some kind of deep breathing, give him a moment.]

[when he speaks again, he sounds frustrated in tired, but less murderous.]

Of course this place is an abomination, it defies the natural world in ways I cannot fathom. These spirits aren't trapped, they're being held back. You opened the door to this place's underworld.

[lilyberation]

( lily eyes the spirit warily before sighing softly, reaching out to take one of shadow milk's hands. what's gotten him so much more furious? gently, she squeezes. )

... Genya... ah, we have something in common, now.

Do you feel affected by the mist at all?

[namuthing]

[Naturally, Genya bristles right back at Shadow Milk. His instincts flare beneath that fury, and though the ground shakes, he steps forward without showing his fear.]

Clearly he knows somethin', if all of this is your first response!

[Though his hand is far from the trigger, it doesn't mean he isn't waving his gun about frantically, motioning to where the shadows had only just been. At least, that is until Lily speaks up. He'd sensed her presence, but with everything happening, had largely forgotten about her.]

I'm fine. [He tilts his head toward her, but doesn't dare break eye contact with Shadow Milk.] Did you know about this place, too? Why not tell people so they knew better?

[If he had any idea there was an actual danger beyond "Don't touch this weird place", then maybe he would have had the sense to avoid it. Sure there were wards, but given Shadow Milk's... everything, it was only wise to think he was hiding something, right?

But before he can really lay in about that matter, the gravity of Lily's question sets in.]

The mist - is it dangerous? What about the town?

[jesterlies]

[With a grumble, Shadow Milk at least relays this conversation to Lily telepathically, so she can hear this gnat speaking to them. It's on a slight delay, but at least this way she can hear. Her touch settles him down considerably, and when he speaks again his tone is even, though there is something icy about it.]

Because telling people invites curiosity, or worse, doubters. Self-righteous people who storm into places under the pretense of doing what is "right" because a simple "Off-Limits" ward is not worthy of being respected just because I have a reputation in my homeworld. I see that you are here after hours, after all. Hoping to find something to condemn me, I'm sure.

I see a simple "Keep Away" was not enough in the end, but perhaps that's my own fault for not anticipating such bad-faith behavior.

[lilyberation]

... It was- for the best that it was warded. There as a similar door like this, back home. A door to the Other-Realm, and it had claimed lives when opened.

( she's quiet for a moment before she realizes just how ominous that was- quickly, she tries to ammend herself, speaking softly and with fluster. )

Ah, sorry- that is, I want to know about the mist and you've been in it longest, so you are the best to ask. We all want to prevent a tragedy... I don't sense anything happening yet. But... in times like this, 'yet' is the key word.

( though, the thought of genya going this far... ... she hates that she can understand it if all he knows is elder faerie's own opinion. )

[namuthing]

Bad faith behavior? You're a -

[Genya's mouth snaps closed, hard enough that his elongated teeth clack together. Murderer he had been about to say, before the word had turned rotten in his mouth. He turns his head away, glancing back toward his mother, then off into the distance.

Throwing that particular word around hadn't gone well for him historically, now had it?]

Fine. Whatever. I guess I get it.

[He knows heroes too. He can picture one in particular even as he speaks. It's better than the direction his previous thoughts had been going, at the very least.]

'm fine. I'm just blue because of... [He motions to Shadow Milk, as if that will explain anything.] Unless I'm seein' shit. I've been seein' my mom. Heard her too, but that was before all of this. And there was this big lady walkin' around, too.

[Which... does remind him.]

They said somethin' about using this abomination "against their domain" as an opportunity.

[Now that he's thinking about it rationally, that he isn't blinded by the presence of his family, his stomach twists. There's an ominous quality to those words that he hadn't considered up until this point.]

Shit.

[sticksandbonesmods]

(Mom is still here, glaring at the other adults. She WILL protect him.

She can't. But she wishes she could.)

[jesterlies]

[Yeah? Yeah? What were you going to say? Call him a monster, too, just-]

[Any posturing he might have been doing in anticipation of those words deflate once Genya holds his tongue. This boy is lucky he is not the cookie he was a year ago, or else he would have torn him apart without a thought.]

[As it is, he's not going to let this backslide him when they have more important things to worry about. He turns to lily.]

He does not appear to have been peeled from his physical form, despite being at ground zero, but that does mean this situation is very unpredictable.

[He steps forward, but to walk closer to the door so long as Genya does not get in his way. He extends a hand out. Time to try and close this thing! He tries to call the fucking meager pool of magic he has to try and shut the thing again. Lets see how badly this goes for him.]

1/2

[sticksandbonesmods]

...

Not. Yet.

The door is completely still, the mist harmless, and yet something lashes out, flashes of colorless light flaring like a whip crack as it flings Shadow Milk away towards a wall.