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Riley let her go, if only because Christof was a force of nature, and she didn't want to be squeezed as hard as it looked like he was squeezing Amrita. But she pulled Malodore back into her arms, and watched the two of them, satisfied with the results. She would have suggested to leave them alone, but there was no real way that was going to happen in this fog. So instead, she reached out to keep her hand touching them, so that they wouldn't get lost.

Now that we're together, shall we go find the others and get out of this place? Or, if not, perhaps build a home here and live forever?

Yes, she was joking, but only a tiny bit serious as well.

There was no Insanity here.

She could deal with it. :|

"I think this might be someone else's home already," Malodore said, in response to Riley; it kept its wings mantled over the group, turning its head towards faint sound - was that actually Calder it was hearing, or something else? Someone else? "We were in the Haunted House before, so it stands to reason that we are still present within it."

It took a step back and startled as something crunched under one hoof. "Merde! What..." The plague doctor folded its wings back carefully before crouching down to examine whatever it had stepped on, finding shards of glass and the faintest bit of damp. "So it isn't sterile and empty after all..."

Maybe there were a few other things here as well? It spread its fingers out and began searching, coming up with a soft roll of bandages faintly bright with a light it didn't recognize... hm. Then another, this one unrolled and crumpled...

It paused when it bumped something else that clattered away from it. It came up with a strange thing that looked like a pumpkin pill, but cracked and greyed out in a very familiar way. "Ah... this seems to carry the taint," it said, speaking loudly enough to call attention as it held the corrupted pill up between thumb and foreclaw. "I believe this is evidence enough that the Insanity is here, even if not within us..."




Stats:

Christof let out a long breath, brows creased as his torn mouth twisted in a weak smile as he pulled away just enough to look Amrita in the eyes... or eye, rather. Gently, he brushed her hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear before signing, "Will-protect."

His face burned red as he glanced over his hunch at those he deemed his Masters, straightening his coat as he cleared his throat and wiped a bit of drool from his chin. Malodore was scavenging... a good idea. They'd need whatever they cold find to get back and he would be efficient, so efficient, efficiency was the key and they'd get home safe and sound and he wished this would stop happening.

At times he wondered why he ever WANTED to leave his Creator's castle.

Stats:

Calder brushed Barth off, picking off a used pumpkin pill and two strange bandages. Then, just to ease his own nerves, he brushed Barth's hair back and held him close. "Just stick close to me. I'll rip apart anything that tries to hurt you." Barth was his, and Calder would rather dissapate than let anything hurt him.

"Want me to carry you?" He asked, wondering if Barth would like a break. There was a tinge of guilt that Calder brought him along in the first place, but he had been selfish. He wondered if he'd pay for that selfishness.


IDK 2 corrupted runic bandages

Malodore watched anxiously as Riley seemed to vanish into the fog, but it could still feel her presence, a featherlight touch in its mind - it seemed impossible that it hadn't noticed the Insanity in her sooner. Her voice seemed so clean, so untainted. Had it not noticed before since it had happened so gradually? Or perhaps it was just imagining the difference...

As it squinted through the fog after her, it realized there was something else out there - light. No, lights, plural, flickers against the fog that seemed to be staying in one place. "Do you see lights?" it asked aloud, hoping that everyone else was on the same page. It didn't want to be hallucinating. It didn't trust this fog, even if Riley and Amrita had seemingly been cured.

Stats:

Calder smiled and quickly shifted into his mare form before lowering herself to let Barth ride her. She didn't want him to get tired and fall asleep when she might need him to be awake, and a small nap while searching was good for the boil when he could get it. As long as Calder protected the demon, Barth had nothing more to do than be there and look pretty (which he did so with flying, wicked, colors).

Just as Calder was kneeling to be mounted, she turned to see a figure come to then and stepped over to Barth, head down and ears back before he saw Riley coming there way and just bump into them. Head up, she looked at the ghoul. It was still strange to see her, considering Calder had not visited her since he heard from Mal that she was alive, that seeing her come from the fog had terrified him for a brief moment.

Lowering again, he looked at the thorns by his hooves and over at Barth. Why the thorns? There was no one around to attack them yet.

"I thought we lost you. Where is everyone else?" Calder told Riley, looking her over. She seemed fine aside from a dusting of flour that was already wearing away by now, not to mention spots that seemed to be wiped off. Flour wasn't long lasting, sadly.

Christof finally glanced away from Amrita as his other friends' voices registered. For once the hunchback looked weary, deflated, and refused to let go of the vitala for fear she'd wander off in the fog. Barth seemed fine, and safe enough on the Kelpie....

A flash of clear purple wafting in the mist, pure of the discolored stripes she had adorned...

Mistress...? Christof mentally ventured, You... look healthier. His eyes darted for a moment as he thought before stepping toward her curiously, How is... your memory?

"It seems this place has dispelled the Insanity... though obviously traces still linger." Malodore had found them, evidently, surfacing out of the fog, rolling the tainted pumpkin pill between its claws. "We may not wish to linger either, lest we suffer ill effects...." It gave the fog a suspicious look, then pointed. "There seem to be some signs of life, at least, rather than just the trash strewn about. Those lights..."