EVENTS:

Deciding the zombie has outlived its usefulness, Eigla draws her sword and bisects it vertically, using her coffin to convert the remains into 1 Flesh.

Curie: "Harsh punishment. But appropriate. Treason begets death."

+10 Curie Points!


Meanwhile, Rosa bites her thumb, then sticks her hand inside the cradle. The tentacles point at her somewhat menacingly, but seem to not attack as long as she moves slowly. Her blood slowly mingles with the fluid inside and the mass of tendrils swimming in it.

_______________________


thump THUMP

thump THUMP

thump THUMP thump THUMP

Klimt swims inside himself, calmly listening to Emilia's heartbeat. What had happened? She'd been hurt, and himself too, and then- He wasn't sure. Sleepwalking in a dreamlike haze. Fighting. He had to protect her. Eigla was powerful, but sloppy. She didn't finish the job. He had to do something.

She is safe now, at least. No one may reach her, deep in his heart. All those swords and guns and teeth and fire outside, all the rotting filth of this corpse world - They do not need to exist in his domain. His form swirled and tightened against hers, gently caressing her soft skin.

Peggy. He remembered her. She was not there. He felt around in the darkness, spreading further and further, but the girl was nowhere to be found. She was somewhere else. No matter. Soon, there would BE nowhere else but himself, and they'd reunite. Just as he felt bones and tendons and tusk and fur being dragged deep within, she too would be part of it.


Hm? What's that? An intruder? Will he have to kill it too? It's bleeding. It feels familiar, somehow. Like... Frozen fish at the supermarket. What was a supermarket again? Probably nothing important. Just a part of a world that once died outside of him, and now within as well.

The intruder is persistent, though. Reaching deep inside, grasping at the formless wisps of his thoughts. Hm.

Hmmmm.

EVENTS:

Rosa reaches deeper in, going for the wound in Klimt's chest. Several tiny tendrils have already entered her wound, and she feels them crawling up her arm. A better connection, she supposes. Now all she has to do is focus and-

thump THUMP

thump THUMP

thump THUMP

Her dead heart briefly changes to a heartbeat that is not her own. She feels herself jumping into the darkness, being dragged into a pit of despair and resignation. The world is grey and bleak. There is nothing worth saving out there. She has Emilia, and that's enough.

She loses herself into Klimt's vast consciousness. It's okay, in the end. He was so... Sad, and hurt. He deserves a companion. Someone to share his burden.

Rosa ceases to exist.


Eigla: "YOU CAN DO IT ROSA! SNAP HIM OUT OF IT!"

The shieldmaiden's screaming brings her back to reality. Rosa stirs, shivering at the tentacles writhing under her skin, and redoubles her thoughts. She can do this. She can bring him back.



________________________


Klimt regards the intruder with interest. For a moment, it seems like it wants to meld with him voluntarily. How strange. Someone out there, trying to be his kin? It's not Peggy, either.

Huh, it's stopped now. It's saying something, repeatedly. Names, and words, and pleas. You recall them vaguely. One of them probably belongs to the intruder. The smell of fish and snow intensifies.

EVENTS:

Eigla: "YOU'RE THE BEST, ROSA! EVEN IF YOU'RE A FISH OR A BIT AUTISTIC OR ACTUALLY FOOT.

YOU'RE THE BEST ROSA!"

Rosa smiles. Eigla was as blunt as always, but she was sincere. Yup! She can do this! She thinks as loud as she can, conveying her thoughts through their intertwined Flesh.

thump THUMP

The heartbeats grow louder, and the tendrils begin burrowing into her torso, despite her attempts to constrict them. She feels herself being slowly pulled into the cradle.

_______________

"Rosa. Rosa. Rosa.
Klimt. Same. Different. Friends. Together.
Rosa. Eigla. Klimt. Emilia. Peggy. Mary.
Rosa."

Oh, so it was Rosa. He knew her. She was a friend. She wanted to come in, too? He could probably make space for it. Her, and Mary, and maybe even Eigla. They could stay inside, and be safe and warm, and together. Perhaps even... Happy.

Was that what she wanted?

EVENTS:

Rosa and Eigla keep shouting at one another, trying to find the courage to go on. The gunslinger struggles to keep her head outside of the cradle, as she feels her organs being infiltrated by more and more tendrils.

Eigla: "STOP BEING A STUPID MESS OF TENTACLES KLIMT! WE HAVE WORK TO DO!"


_________________________

Klimt hears yelling. They're calling for him, out there. They're begging him to come out.

He can't leave! It's safe inside! It's his domain! It's-

No. The factory is still out there, even if he tries to ignore it. The hordes are all around him, and simple flesh walls won't be able to stop them. He needs something else. Some, other power.

He feels like he could open his eyes, if he wanted, but fears his shelter might crumble if he does so.