sheep_game | Misty Mangle

[What's "Estarossa"'s deal with people leaving?]

And then?

She called me a liar. Though of what, even I do not know. Tendrils of mist and shadow began to seep out of her hand. They... engulfed her like a blanket.

[While she huddled like a small wounded child.]

She accused me of creating a trapdoor. I believe she meant the pink glow that had begun to surround me by that point. Of course, but then I was growing alarmed. I pulled a sunflower out, but as soon as it was within my fingers, it abruptly winked out of existence- as though I had never had it with me to begin with.

[This is such a baffling account. What on earth?]

[She lets him continue.]

This is where things truly become confusing.

[He doesn't understand it all himself if he is honest.]

She continued to call me a liar, before... she did something to me. You see, I believe that the glow that surrounded me was actually the protection of your former feline flockmate.

[He would have some questions for him, were he still here. Hopefully, he is safe back at home.]

She changed her narrative and said that perhaps it was not my fault that I did not 'know' this trapdoor she spoke of. That instead, my friend misled me with my gift and abandoned me.

. . . How she even knows it was a gift to begin with, I have no idea.

[He becomes a touch pale as he recounts the second bit. There are no injuries, but the pain and memory of it remain.]

Strange symbols appeared across her face from those black tears as wolf ears appeared on her head. And suddenly... shadowed tendrils tore both my ears and tail from my body.

[Even without obvious pupils, it's easy to see when her eyes flick to his ears before returning to his face. She doesn't argue, though.]

[Turns out Cres is good at storytelling. She's listening carefully.]

And then?

That is when I started fighting back with my flock abilities. I sent her flying into a couple of trees, but then...

[Er... how does he explain this?]

Her body sort of... shattered? Her wolflike shadow lunged forward and gobbled up the pieces, before lunging toward me. Her voice still echoed in my ears, though, and she asked if it was the real me now and if we could truly be together without deceit.

[Since his ears and tail had been torn from him, he believes. The protection had been battered against.]

I stabbed those shadows with my sword as they attacked. My weapons are tipped with the poison that Persephone provided in the past, and I hoped it would be enough to cast off the wolf. As soon as my blade made contact though, abruptly, I passed out.

. . . And when I came to I was in a strange dream-like field.

[This is bananas.]

[Keep going.]

There were... um...

[This will certainly sound bananas... ]

Strange gigantic earthlike... blobs? That were surrounding her in the distance. She looked like prey, so I attempted to shoot one but it just ate my arrow. It rushed toward me, scooped me up, and asked how I had managed to get there, all while I kept hearing a wolf howl in the distance.

It sounded dreamlike before, but it keeps getting moreso...

Indeed. The reality of...wherever I was seemed to be fluid.

[It becomes more so.]

Those creatures said I was a prisoner of the doll, the same as they were. I questioned them on it, which is when Estarossa took notice of me. Her entire body was cracked and splintered. She panicked, and said I was not supposed to be here, as this was not my 'sin'.

[He doesn't know what 'sin' it was supposed to be either.]

. . . I had promised her when we were in the woods that I would remain and that I would not abandon her. That I planned to see her back to the pasture. So of course, I reiterated that. A shadowy wolf with wings abruptly came hurtling at me and the strange creature though, and caught me within its jaws.

[KIND OF TERRIFYING ACTUALLY.]

It... did not hurt. I do not remember it leaving any marks, but it demanded that I prove my words and show it a time in which I had kept my promise.

Edited 2024-03-13 05:39 (UTC)

And then?

Suddenly I knew I could shift the scenery.

[Somehow. It was like an innate knowledge had been granted him.]

Of course, as I have amnesia, I have precious few memories of home. There was something I recalled from my childhood though, with my cousin.

[He feels a little embarrassed in the aftermath, actually.]

. . . I was just little. An aggressive stray dog appeared before us; naturally, I was terrified. I had always promised to protect my cousin, though, and so I... attempted to face it.

[With... a small stick. Cheeks a bit red he lifts a hand to scratch one of them while continuing to hold the little wolf plushie in the other.]

A-Anyway, obviously I managed to scare the dog off somehow. Miss Estarossa asked why I had promised to protect my cousin at that time. I explained that... it just seemed like the right thing to do. Because he was family... it was my responsibility. I had promised to, and because... I love him.

She seemed genuinely happy with that answer, but suddenly the wolf howled. I was struck by a laser, and then abruptly... I was back in the forest. My ears and tail were intact once more, my sunflower was returned, and in my arms was this plushie.

[ . . . ]

So I walked back to the pasture and here we are.

Edited 2024-03-13 05:56 (UTC)

[Haha she hates this actually]

...I see.

"Estarossa" mentioned to me they're a magical construct and they have the ability to change their appearance. Apparently they have other abilities too, including what very much sounds like plunging you directly into a dream.

Do you think that assessment sounds correct?

[A magical construct... he nods after a moment.]

I do not know how else to describe it. Other than that much of what took place seems as though it did so inside my head. It felt real. I do not know when or where it changed from reality to a dream though.

[ . . . ]

It feels as though someone went digging around inside my mind.

That's what it sounds like, too.

Honestly, who even knows if it was bitten at all or if it just stole those wolf images from your mind.

[Ugh.]

...Here, give it to me. I'll take care of it.

. . . I do not feel that I can leave her until she has returned to normal for a variety of different reasons. But so long as I am permitted to keep her that company, then of course.

If you want. In gonna throw it in a fire and be glad the eye is open.

[She turns sideways so she can hold out her wing hand. Gimme.]

[ . . .

HOLDING THE PLUSHIE CLOSER TO HIMSELF?]

I know you are just joking, but Rose's sense of humor is something else.

I'm not joking. That thing is dangerous and I don't want to be stuck in a barn with a cursed doll.

Better to get rid of it before anyone forms any attachments.

[Makes emphatic grabby motions with her wing hand. Give.]

[ . . . Holding the plushie even closer now.]

I think I will bring her to the clinic myself.

Give me the doll, Crescendo.

I did not just go through all of that just to see this plushie burn! I will see her better, and then have her explain herself.

[curls her lip]

And I don't want to risk my life because you want a project.

[She starts striding toward him, unblinking. Her voice is low and threatening.]

Give it to me, or I'll take it, and your arm too.

That is not going to happen.

[Will face her down directly without budging, staring her straight in the face.]

Your attempts at threatening me will not work. I do not believe you would try and bring me to harm. But even should you wish to, try to take her and you will find yourself little more than a lovesick fool.

[And what's more-.]

Besides, you already know that it would be unwise to injure me. Disastrous for relations, and disastrous to your own well-being. You would have something much more frightening than a doll to contend with were I to sustain a scratch and your shepherd find out.

[a slow, hissing snarl is tangled in her words, and her tail flicks once, sharply, in irritation]

You would put our lives -- my life! -- on the line because this thing did not hurt you enough the first time for you to learn.

You think I wouldn't gut you to protect myself? You trust too much.

Misty Mangle

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