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Hidden Substance- time skipped
Hedoro crouched in the shadows, glaring out of the dank alley. The foetid scent of decayed leaves, finally unearthed after the village approached a full thaw, gave the air a rather unpleasant scent. The alley was certainly not fragrant at the best of times, so this extra bit of odor only helped to keep the humans away. Things had changed in the several years since she had discovered certain things. She had changed. Oh, she still hungered, still felt the compulsion to devour humans whole. And she still indulged, when the opportunity presented itself. Not too often, but every once in a while a drunk never made it home, or a young child would get lost. By now, it seemed the people knew better than to look too deeply into these occasional disappearances, certain signs were all they needed to tell she was involved and mark the missing people down as a lost cause. That suited her well enough, even just muted loathing and awareness was an improvement to the naked animosity she had faced before.

And now? Now she spent much of her time the same as before, lying low and avoiding attention. But there was a difference now, there were times when she might actually be in a good mood, where her hunger wasn't the only guiding force behind her actions. What could this change be from, what possible force could achieve such a drastic change in her temperament? Why, that would be-
[245 + 1280 = 1525 out of ??? ]




(I'll try to get a reply out for you soon, Grim!)

Hidden Fragment
"I see." Kawari said nothing more. Something in the knight's mien gave an indication that he had a history with GeininX, to an extent that he was not fond of the odd monitor-bound figure. Outright hostility? No, but a definite dislike, and that extended to those connected to him, it would see. But before she had any more time to try to get more information out of the knight, the seemingly infamous GeininX showed up, jogging up to the group even as the knight warned her to be ware of him. Coincidental timing, or intentional? It didn't matter, she and Noze had thrown their lot in with him for the time being, so even if he was as dangerous as the knight made him sound, there was little they could do about it. He was the one who had brought them to this odd land, so it stood to reason that he was the only one who could return them to where they had come from, too. That meant that they were allies, until such a time as something went horribly wrong.

Things grew complicated within moments of GeininX's arrival, with the mention of a single name. Subaru? The name held no meaning to her, no data was present in her memory banks to correlate to the name, or even to any that were similar. Yet it seemed very important to the knight. Or rather, knights, as more armored figures seemed to drift free of the crowds with every passing moment. To move so fluidly and silently, while wearing what looked like full plate armor, that spoke of serious skill or heavy enchantment. Either of which could mean trouble for their small group. This all made it much more agreeable for her to join in running away when GeininX gave the signal. She hadn't even had a chance to say that Noze had waited in the background as a reserve, fortunately the direction they ran was the same one in which the other young woman waited.

Noze had watched the slowing increasing conflagration in silence, remaining back out of the way. It didn't seem that a fight would come out of it, but if it did, she was ready. Some may think it cheating to attack from behind, or interrupting a duel. Did she? No, not really. It was just efficient to do things like that, when needed. It didn't seem to be needed this time, either, as the others chose to run from the growing number of knights, right toward her. She stepped forward out of the crowds as GeininX and Kawari neared her position, increasing her own speed to keep up with the others. "A portal? One more step to this journey, it would appear. Why not? We've come this far, let's keep going." She wasn't even sure where they were now, yet she was ready to trust GeininX even more, for yet another transportation?
[488 + 4485 = 4973 out of ??? ]

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Hidden Substance
The rain had come again, just as it had several times before in the past week. It was too warm for snowfall now, something she was rather garteful for. The colder weather had been rather inconvenient. Nothing to the point of actually freezing her substance, but enough that it was uncomfortable. Rain, on the other hand, was much better. As such, she was perhaps distracted by this latest rainfall, having turned her face up to the drops for a moment. That moment of peace was shattered an instant later, an all-too-familiar voice being heard just as she felt a force collide with her side.

This was a greeting she had come to know very well. Mamichi. Each time she thought she had managed to lose the younger Meliae, and each time, within a few days or weeks, she would be greeted by a tackle when she was finally found again. There were times that she had lashed out on instinct, using more force than was necessary. But the younger ones were just as hard to kill as her, each time Mamichi had recovered, reformed and continued on. It would seem that the proverb 'once bitten, twice shy' had no meaning to her young admirer.

This entire train of thought took only an instant, she was reacting at the same time. The call let her know to not use killing force, so instead she formed a large hand to grab Mamichi and throw her bodily at the far wall with brutal speed. Something like that wouldn't do much to stop the young Meliae, but it would take her a moment to reform after likely splatting against the brick wall. Hopefully in that moment, she'd calm down. She gave a shrug, a parody of the human gesture, done by one without proper shoulders or bones, making the act much more fluid and flexible. "You already tracked me down? You're getting better at it."

She straightened up, gathering herself into a bit more of a presentable shape. She had been in as half puddle form, something akin to a human slouch. Laziness, at it's core. But now that she was entertaining company, she shifted into the form she usually took when in action, a mostly human form. Fully formed limbs which seemed to shift as ribbons of translucent blue slime ran down their surface, only to be sucked up at her feet to be distributed throughout her form once more. Her eyestalk tilted upward as the rain drew to a close. That would make it Mamichi's technique, rather than true rainfall. No wonder it had caught her attention more than a regular rainfall.
[442 + 1525 = 1967 out of ??? ]

Hidden Substance
As expected, being smacked into the wall only stopped Mamichi for an instant, she was already forming herself back together by the time she had reached the ground once more. And thankfully, she did seem calmer now, so the strike had accomplished what it had needed to. Hedoro straightened herself up, shifting back into an upright position, from where the surprise tackle had sent her sprawling. At the mention of food, her eyestalk perked up, that small gesture alone was proof that she was hungry, as ever. Even so, the idea of her food being brought to her felt a bit unusual.

For a time, she had considered demanding the same from the humans. Announce her presence openly, and spell out what it meant. Then demand that they choose one amongst themselves to hand over as a sacrifice, rather than force her to go and hunt on her own. In the end, she had discarded that idea, the hunt was part of what made the meal as satisfying. Not having to go out and drag the still-screaming form beneath her surface was a cost she hadn't been prepared to pay at that time. At the same time, she knew that Mamichi was just trying her best, she doubted the young one had intended any ill intent. So for the time being, she would accept being brought her food rather than hunting it down. One question needed to be answered first, however. "I see, good work. Are they still alive?"

As she spoke, she let her form grow dissolute for a time, before forming once more. This brief shiver in her substance was just a small act to burn off a little excess energy, she hadn't gone out and actually done anything for a while. She was getting a bit restless. Maybe when they had finished with their meal, maybe it was time to just go out and do something. What that something might be, she didn't know yet. Worrying about the future wasn't like her, all she really needed was to know that she could find another meal. But now that she apparently had a full-on follower, she had to make the effort. After all, there were things about how her body worked that it had taken Hedoro years to discover. As her 'child', Mamichi could benefit from some of that experience.
[394 + 1967 = 2161 out of ??? ]

Mamichi grinned inwardly at the twitch of Hedoro’s eyestalk, “Of course Mistress, I know your preference there about twelve of them, bandits or mercs.” Hedoro ought to know what that meant, that it was rather simple to subdue them and they wouldn’t be missed, “And my rain will have driven most of the citizens inside so your hunting will go unnoticed.” She said smiling to herself a bit proudly. She had used their rope to tie them up so they wouldn’t get away, a bitter irony from what it was usually used for; the tying of their victims, as well as leaving a few slime clones behind in case they had some friends nearby. “Shall I lead you Mistress? “Mamichi asked of Hedoro rather dutifully.

125

Hidden Fragment
Kawari ran alongside GeininX as they continued to evade the guards. She hoped that wherever it was that they were, that Geininx had a destination in mind. Just running away without a goal made escape fairly unlikely. For the moment, they were just putting distance between them and the guards, they'd have to do something a bit more drastic to really get away.

Just as she was thinking that, a few warning messages popped up in her system log, warning her about a noticeable energy drain. Curious, this large of a drain should have an obvious cause, but there was nothing. The energy lost was considerable, though she still had enough to continue running. She filed a query to perform a scan later to attempt to ascertain the source, to make sure there wasn't a glitch in her program. For the moment, though, there was something more important to worry about. A large portal had manifested inf ront of them. GeininX seemed aware of it, was it his doing? Perhaps that was the measure he had taken to get them away from the guards? No matter, the only option she had was to follow suit and jump into it. Noze was only a few steps behind, disappearing along with the other three.

Once reality fixed itself, the first thing either of the two noticed was how their current location was a lot less clean than the previous one. "Just where are we?" Noze asked, as she shifted off of a pile of scrap metal, managing to avoid anything more serious than a few scratches. She looked around, trying to see any clue toward where they were, or to even connect it to where they were before. But there wasn't, that portal that had brought them here seemed to have covered a vast distance. Curious, and potentially dangerous. Hopefully once they had offered their aid, returning to where they had started this trip wouldn't be too hard.
[326 + 4973 = 5299 out of ??? ]

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"Hmm..." Hedoro seemed to consider it for a moment, a new arm growing from her side to bring to her chin in a contemplative gesture. If they were still alive, and just waiting to be eaten, that was pretty tempting. And to get to hunt them, that made it even better. But at the same time, she was just itching for some real action, it had been far too long since she had really let herself go, let herself cut loose. "I've got a better idea. Go ahead and cut them loose." She waited a moment before continuing with her idea. "Let them know I'm coming, and that if they can escape the city before either of us catch them, then they are free to go." She smiled, a predatory glint in her eyes, all three of them, as she contemplated a real hunt. If her instincts weren't sharp enough, part of her meal would get away. This, then, was what she wanted, a real hunt with a real chance of failure. "And you should compete, too, we'll make a challenge of it." Her eyestalk bobbed at the end, to turn her statement into a question, to see if Mamichi would be interested in trying to play.
[207 + 2161 = 2368 out of ??? ]

"Excellent, good work." The game was on. Hedoro drew up to her full height, as unpredictable a measure as that was. It was time to hunt. She let her eyestalk take a brief scan of her surroundings, processing the sensory data. Obvious none of their prey would come any close, instead they would go by the most direct route toward the closest edge of the village. that meant that she knew where they were going to show up. Her gaze returned to Mamichi for a moment, bobbing her substance in a nod to signal the game's beginning. Without another word, she rushed off, abandoning her human form for something more fluid. Namely, that of a simple amorphous mass, the entirety of it's substance leaping bodily in the air as it projected itself forward. For something that seemed so bulky, it seemed to move rapidly, practically bouncing down the alleyway and into the open light of the street.

The majority of the humans had retreated indoors when the rain had started, but a few hardy individuals remained, to be scared by this newest intrusion. She paid them no mind, however, instead keeping on the lookout for any humans that were obviously their imminent meal. Her substance collided with a tree, before splitting in half and recombining on the opposite side, to project away from it and continually forward. She was on a beeline toward the village's edge, getting closer and closer all the time. Mamichi better hurry if she wanted to do a decent performance.
[254 + 2368 = 2622 out of ??? ]

As Hedoro rushed through the village's streets, she felt the change in the rain almost instantly. So Mamichi was upping the stakes of their challenge? Excellent. While still moving, she split into several forms, each of them going in a different direction. Mamichi's substance was coming down all over the village, but there wouldn't be enough of it to take out all of their targets at once. That meant that she had a narrow opportunity to make her own mark. The quintet of Hedorins, each smaller than Hedoro had been before, and each a different hue of substance, were covering up the distance rapidly, despite their small stature. Two had already found a mercenary each, but rather than immediately consume them, they only plastered them to the nearest surface with their own substance. That would make sure that they wouldn't have the chance to get away, while leaving her the time to go after the others. The other three, the ones who had yet to capture a brigand for themselves, sped up, eager to do their own part toward the final goal. Time was running short, if the Meliae Typhoon kept going, there would be enough of Mamichi's substance for her to manifest anywhere in the village that she wanted. If that happened, there would be no stopping her, the competition would be over. Even if the three who hadn't yet tagged a target each got one, that wasn't quite half of the total number of victims, things were getting serious.
[251 x 2 = 502 + 2622 = 3124 out of ??? ]

Still Mamichi's big attack had not come, was she showing mercy? whether to Hedoro or to their victims, regardless that was just inexcusable! Showing mercy was weakness, and weakness was something that belonged to the fleshlings, not their kind. She would have to show her, that doing anything less than one's best was dangerous. Two of the three who had yet to capture a meal sped down diverging alleyways, blue and green blurs moving through the shadows and rapidly descending on another pair of the brigands. One tried to evade capture by simply running as fast as possible. They weren't fast enough, a gelatinous hand snaked forward to catch them by the ankle before dragging them, kicking and screaming, to be fully enveloped. The other's actions were vitalized by the sound of the first merc's screams, he opted to try to hide and wait for a safe moment to then make his escape. Huddling in a corner, he watched the world through alert eyes. No monster had come after him yet, he had yet to see another of those... those things, after the first one had set him free, told him to run. Maybe he'd gotten away? Maybe he had done it? That was what he thought, until he realized the puddle he was standing in seemed to be rising. He tried to pull his legs free, but they were caught fast, with more and more being sucked in with every passing second. He fell over, and tried valiantly to claw at the dirty ground, succeeding in only shredding his fingertips and leaving a few bloody streaks on the stone which were washed away by the rain in an instant. And then he, too, was gone.
[286 + 3124 = 3410 out of ??? ]