The Witch's Village

"The Witch's Village" begins on Day 10 of Season 2 (November 10-12, 14, 2014).
== Summary ==
== Full Text ==
=== Part 1 ===
Clover Rose: After nearly an hour of waiting, Clover decided enough was enough. “Alright, we’re going now. Kiri probably found something better to do.” Staring down at her copy of the list, she started heading in the direction of the village they had decided to visit.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Alright, sounds good." Tezz just went with the flow for now. He wasn’t in a very ‘leader-y’ mood this morning. 
Clover Rose: Clover took one last look around the camp, checking for Kiri. While she didn’t find Kiri, she did find Starlord. “Hey Starlord! Want to come with us? We’re doing a supply run.”
Kierra Starlord: Starlord pauses her sword practice, and turns toward clover. “Oh, are we leaving now?" she asks, sheathing her sword. Let me grab my vodka sack, and I’ll be right there!” 
Clover Rose: Clover waits for Starlord to come back with her vodka sack. “Alright, if anyone needs anything else, I suggest they grab it now.” She pauses, looking between Starlord and Tezz before nodding to herself and setting off.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz follows behind, falling to the back of the group. He grabs some snow and begins to practice levitating it. He needs to hone his water manipulation if he’s ever going to help anybody, so why not play around with it on the road? 
Kierra Starlord: Starlord spins around on the balls of her feet, and begins walking backwards. She sees Tezz manipulating the snow.”Whoa! I didn’t know you could do that!” She exclaimed, a grin spreading across her face.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz felt the blood rush to his face as he spoke, “Yeah, I’m trying to teach myself more, all I can do right now is make it float.” He let the snowball fall into his hand and drops it. “I think I can learn to do a lot more though.” Tezz looked up and smiled. “Hey Clover, do you know how far away this village is? I guess I should have asked before we left, but I mostly want to know if this is going to last more than a day or two…”
Clover Rose: "I’m actually not sure how far it is. It shouldn’t be more than about 8 hours, even if we slow down a bit." Clover says, trying to hide the fact that she wouldn’t have even known about this village if she hadn’t seen a map. She knew it wasn’t unreasonably far for a journey, but it wasn’t all that close either.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Alright then!" Tezz settled in for the hike, picking up more snow to practice with. He slunk behind, hoping he wouldn’t have to speak much, as he wasn’t much one for small talk. The scenery was pleasant all around during the voyage at least. 
Kierra Starlord: Starlord spins back around, starting to walk forward again. Just then, a thought popped into her head. “Hey, Clover? Heh.. Remember the song..?” She asked, elbowing Clover lightly in the arm, a half grin spreading across her face.
Clover Rose: "Ah yes . . " Clover turns and grins at Tezz, clears her throat, and begins singing loudly, and deliberately off-key. "I’ll spike the drinks and other things, while throwing pies at Kiri!" She points at Starlord for the next lines.
Kierra Starlord: Starlord grins, and begins bouncing around. “Aaaaaand GLADLY CHUG THE BUBBLE TEA, BECAUSE I WILL BE MERRY!” She sang/shouted, skipping around Clover, and giggling.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz watched the scene in front of him unfolding, not entirely sure what to do. He didn’t know the words, and he wasn’t much one to join in on singing anyway. Gods I hope the rest of the voyage goes by quickly…
Clover Rose: Clover runs over to Tezz and grabs his hands, spinning him in a circle as she sings the next few lines. “NO TATER TOTS NOR BLACK-BURNED FISH WILL STOP ME FROM BEING CHEERY!” She throws her head back, laughing loudly.
Tezzeret Verdile: Taken off guard to the spinning, Tezz stumbles and falls, losing his grip on Clover’s hands and falling into the snow. To add insult to injury, the snowball he had been levitating fell onto his face. “Allllriiight…” Tezz mutters as he wipes off the snow and gets to his feet. “Warn me next time you want to ask me to dance.” Tezz gives a coy smile to Clover. 
Kierra Starlord: Starlord lets out a little giggle,”Hah, it’s just a little ting some others and I came up with a few nights ago, while drinking in the great hall.” She said,pulling a twig out of his hair.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz scratched at his head where the twig was, “Oh, I get it. Well, don’t let me keep you from song and dance.” He smiled, gesturing to the path ahead. “Although we should keep a move on, I don’t want to be out in these woods when it’s too dark…”
Clover Rose: "We should reach a path before it gets dark." Clover makes a half-hearted attempt at hiding the tremor in her voice - she didn’t actually know if that was the case. For all she knew it could be another five hours before they reached a trail. They could reach one in ten minutes. She didn’t know.
Kierra Starlord: Starlord came to a halt. “I..I don’t.. Is there another way around?” She asked, her voice quiet, and shaky. She felt all the memories flooding back.
Clover Rose: "I - I don’t know. I’ve never been here. Not that I can remember. Gods, I’ve never been where we’re going either. Well, if I have, I can’t remember it. I can’t remember anything from before the rebellion started!" With this statement, Clover puts her head in her hands with a muffled sob.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Hey, we’ll all be alright okay?" Tezz speaks nervously, he doesn’t quite know how to handle these kinds of situations. "We know the village is almost due East of the camp right? At least from what I remember of the conversations. Let’s just keep heading this way." Tezz begins leading the other two through the woods, glancing back to make sure they’re both holding up alright. Thankfully the road to the village wasn’t more than five minutes away.
Kierra Starlord: Starlord begins to shuffle forward, wrapping her arms around her torso. The memories becoming more and more clear. Her father, her mother, her baby brother, the animals that stalked the night, scouring the trees for their next meal. She doesn’t remember what the animal was, but it was big. She can hear her parents voices crying out for her, telling her to run. “Star, Go! We’ll be okay! Don’t worry!” She heard her dad say, tears escaping his eyes. “You will be safe, just get ahead!” Her mother screamed, trying to pass her baby brother to her. Unfortunately, the beast jumped in between them, swallowing the child, and the mothers hand. Young Star turns away, and sprints as fast as her little legs could take her, which wasn’t very far, she was only a mere three years old.
Just then, she snapped out of it, and realized she was curled up at the base of a tree, shaking, cheeks wet with tears.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Kierra, hey." Tezz grabs her shoulder, "Do you need to talk about something? I’m not very good at talking but I can listen… But we do need to keep going, we have a lot of ground to cover before dark." Tezz smiles grimly. I did’t think a supply run would be so wrought with emotion. Oh well, you did sign on for this Tezz.
Kierra Starlord: Starlord wraps the bottom of her long, ratty, red coat around her legs, and looks up, quickly wiping away tears. “..I lost my family in these woods..” Her brow furrowed, as she stood up. “These parts are dangerous, and it’ll take more than five minutes to get through. The best, and safest way to travel, is in the trees. Trust me, I know, it’s the only reason I’m alive today.” She takes out two daggers, shoves them into a tree, and climbs up, grabbing the nearest branch. “Come on, guys. Unless you want to be the beasts to claw your eyes out…” she said, pushing her way up higher, and higher.
Clover Rose: Clover stares after Starlord, trying to process what just happened. “O-okay … ” She grabs a branch and starts pulling herself up after, glancing down at Tezz while she does.
Tezzeret Verdile: Well, I can’t say this is the strangest thing I’ve done. I just hope I don’t fall, otherwise he might show up to try and save me… "Alright, if this’s how we stay safe, I guess I’m all for it." Tezz clambers up, holding on for dear life. 
Clover Rose: Clover unsteadily reaches for a branch, not really comfortable with being up in the trees. Right as she reaches for it, she slips, and she falls part of the way down the tree.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz hears branches creaking up ahead, looking up he sees Clover falling right for him. He barely has enough time to react grabbing her arm with one hand and steadying against another branch with the other he manages to catch her before she can hurt herself. “Hey now, I’m supposed to be the clumsy one.” Tezz smiles down to her and pulls her up. 
Kierra Starlord: Starlord turned to look down at the two. “You gotta watch out for the smaller branches, those aren’t so trustworthy. Only use them if you absolutely have to.” She informed, before turning away, beginning to climb again. Her small smile fell, and a saddening feeling took over. Though she wasn’t sure why.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz was feeling a lot happier than he could remember feeling in a long time. He was starting to feel like he had a home, a new family. He just didn’t want his other self to mess it up. The rest of the tree voyage went much smoother past the first hiccup. They went miles in the trees, but made it to the edge of their destination. With arms tired and darkness falling they descended from the trees. “I think we found it, should we find a place to stay for the night?”
Clover Rose: "Yes . . I think we should." Clover agreed as they entered the town. She frowned as she realized something was... off. The windows should have been bright with candlelight by this point, but there was no light coming from any of the windows. "Something’s wrong here. I don’t like it." She takes a step closer to Tezz, looking around anxiously..
Tezzeret Verdile: "I know what you mean." The air was too quite for a village, especially since it was only just getting to be dusk. "This may end up being more than just a supply run, keep your wits about you, you two." He got the dreaded feeling of walking into an all too familiar scene of death as the trio pushed further into the village.
Kierra Starlord: Starlord unsheathes her swords from either side of her waist, and cautiously walks toward one of the buildings. She peeks through one of the broken windows, and turned to the others. ” It’s completely empty.” She said, walking to another building, and kicking the door in.
Clover Rose: Clover draws her dagger and approaches the building nearest to her, peeking inside. She sees what appears to be long hair spread out on the floor, and she frowns. She turns the doorknob and watches as the door swings open slowly. “Oh my gods . . ” She stares in shock at the sight in front of her, at a loss for words.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Let’s get further into town, we might be able to discern what happened here. If I survived this, that’s where I would go…" Tezz starts heading in that direction, levitating a snowball above his hand. I hope I can weaponize this if the time comes for it…. 
Clover Rose: "Tezz, I’m not sure how much a snowball will help." Clover murmers, following after him uncertainly. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around the hilt of her dagger. She listens for any sounds that could indicate what had done this.
Tezzeret Verdile: "I don’t exactly have any other weapons," Tezz whispers back to Clover. He focuses on the snow, melting it into water, and refreezing it into a spike of ice. That took too much time. I don’t think I can make more in a combat situation… He presses flat against the wall of a building, looking down the main street. Bodies lay strewn about the road in front of houses and shops. Floating above one of the bodies is a strange glyph. “Do you… do you guys see that?”
Clover Rose: "See . . what?" Clover asks, staring at, what seems to her, empty space above the bodies. She whirls around when she hears what sounds like a child’s cry. Without a word, she quickly walks towards the direction of the sound.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz watches Clover go another direction other than towards the glyph. He was torn between following her, and his curiosity of why there was a glyph there. 
You there? 
Tezz tries to pull the other him to the front of his conscience, he might just have to learn how to control him. With no response in his head he goes towards the glyph floating above the girl. He stretches out his hand…
“AHHHH!”
Tezz screams as he pulled into the glyph. 
Clover Rose: Clover stopped dead in her tracks as she hears Tezz scream. She looks around wildly before she starts running towards where she had heard the crying before. The crying leads her to a house filled with broken furniture, and a young girl. She looked to be about two or three years old. Clover uncertainly walked over to her, humming softly in an attempt to calm down both the child and herself. “Shh little one . . you’re okay.” She says gently.
Toshioka Kiri: Kiri has no idea how long she’s been trapped in the labyrinth.  She has no idea how she’s still alive.  She’s exhausted, weakened, and covered in her own blood.  The blood loss is making her lightheaded.
The familiars keep coming.  Those she can destroy.  The witch, in its tall form as a huge, broken and distorted porcelain doll, is too powerful…
She hears a sudden scream.  Her head jerks to the side to see, to her shock, Tezz from the camp appearing right at the edge of the cage of thorns.
Her mouth drops.
"What - how are you - how did you - " she can barely speak.  She has no idea how he’s managed to both find where she’s ended up and get sucked into the labyrinth.
Then the familiars begin to coalesce and move towards him.
She screams.  “Tezz!  Look out!!”
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz spins and sees Kiri? Along with an assortment of other strange creatures. He readies his ice spike.
Now would be a good time to help us stay alive. Tezz reaches to the furthest back of his mind. He’s no good in a fight without his psychotic other half.
Kierra Starlord: Starlord runs out of the building, when she hears a scream come from the center of town. When she gets there, Out of her peripheral vision, she sees something, but she’s not sure what. When she tried focusing on it, it vanished. “What the hell was that?” she asked, pointing above the child in Clover’s arms. 
Toshioka Kiri: Kiri has no idea if Tezz knows how to fight, but she must assume he does. All she can do right now is continue to take down familiars while the witch continues its assault…
It moves its empty gaze towards her and points a nearly shattered hand.  A shower of jagged porcelain flies down. It’s all Kiri can do to dodge them in her exhausted state. One manages to graze her cheek.
She pulls out the ornamented dagger, having long since run out of nadder spikes. “Tezz!” she shouts. “The witch! It controls the labyrinth! We have to kill it!”
Tezzeret Verdile: Come on I need you to take over, we have to save these people.
Fine 
Tezz loses control of his body, but holds onto his vision, grasping onto consciousness so he can retake his body when the time comes. The spike of ice he was levitating separates into three lances which begin orbiting him. Each lance taking turns puncturing and skewering through the familiars. “Which one do we have to kill to escape this prison? Point me to it.”
Toshioka Kiri: A mage…
Kiri is so incredibly relieved that Tezz has magical abilities. Simple physical attacks from a regular human do little to such beings as witches.
She points at the witch as it releases another stream of jagged porcelain at her. “That!” she shouts back. “That giant monstrous creature that looks like a porcelain doll!” 
She manages to successfully dodge all the projectiles. A spinning hook kick and a swipe with the dagger takes out the closest familiar.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezzeret moves one of the lances into his hand, and extends his arm back as if to throw a javelin. His other hand stretches forward, pulling the lance into a needle thin projectile. Tezz makes a throwing motion and the ice flies forward piercing into the eye. He balls his left hand into a fist, drawing all of the ice into an orb inside of the witches head. Releasing his fist expands the orb, popping open the head of the witch. As he does this he collapses to the ground, his mind exhausted from the internal battle as well as the external. The two remaining lances fall to the ground, shattering into pieces around his body…
Thank you…
Toshioka Kiri: Kiri breathes in utter relief as the witch is destroyed. The familiars shriek, black lines streak out of the witch’s body, and the entire labyrinth, the entire nightmarish labyrinth, begins to visibly shatter…
She crawls forward, the exhaustion creeping into her body and making every movement sluggish. As the witch’s body twists and melts into nothing, she reaches forward for the small metal ornament that she knows will appear from it.
The black ornament floats down, landing gently to balance on its point. Kiri carefully grasps it, overcome with the realization of what this ornament is.
This grief seed… was once a soul gem… the remnants of a person’s soul, corrupted and twisted by despair…
As the labyrinth disappears, returning both her and Tezz to the real world, Kiri collapses to the ground, the blood loss and exhaustion finally settling in, still holding onto the grief seed. So many revelations are coming to her mind now, and it only strengthens the resolve of that promise she made years ago…
Her injuries finally overtake her, and she welcomes the rest of darkness.
Clover Rose: Side note: There was a bit of an error that’s easy to fix, but it does change a bit of what happened in some previous posts.
Clover ran back to the center of town moments after Kiri and Tezz were returned to the real world. Still holding the child in her arms, she sprints over. “Tezz! And... Kiri?!” Clover comes to a halt, thoroughly confused. “What happened here?” She asks, looking down at the little girl she was holding.
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz stirred, eyes fluttering open. Above him was the night sky, complete with stars and a moon he knew. We made it out of there… Looking around he saw Kiri still asleep on the ground, Starlord was standing near Clover, who had a strange little girl with her. 
"C-Clover..? Starlord? Who’s the g-girl? Am… Are we back in the re-real world?" Tezz struggled to find words, his mind still exhausted from battling himself.
Clover Rose: Clover shifted the child in her arms so she had a free hand. “Yes. You are.” She brushes his hair from his face, forcing herself to stay calm. “I found the girl when I ran off earlier.” She offers him a quick explanation. “What happened in there?”
Tezzeret Verdile: "I-I don’t really know. There was something Kiri called a witch, that we had to k-kill… Kiri probably knows more than I do… whenever she wakes up." Tezz cleared his throat. He smiles up at Clover, "are you three alright then?"
Clover Rose: Clover nods. “Yeah, we’re okay. Can you stand?” She looks around, taking in all the destruction around them for the first time. “I wonder if anyone else made it...” She murmurs, glancing at the girl she was still holding.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Yeah, I can stand. We can look for other survivors while we try to scavenge for the supplies we need to bring back. Maybe we can find somewhere to sleep too." Tezz stood up as he spoke, taking a closer look at the girl in Clover’s arms. "Do we know her name?"
Clover Rose: "No, I couldn’t tell. And even if she can talk, she hasn’t said a word yet." Clover replies, looking at Tezz. "I don’t really know if I want to sleep here. There might be something else that could attack us." She turns and looks at Kiri again. "I wonder when she’ll wake up . . "
Tezzeret Verdile: "We can’t move until she can." Tezz looks at Starlord. "Kierra, can you keep watch on Kiri? I want to check out these buildings at least for some supplies. We can leave when Kiri is ready to." Tezz gets up and starts looking through the shattered storefronts. I don’t want to come back empty handed with another to care for…
Toshioka Kiri: Kiri stirs slightly, but is in such pain from a mixture of exhaustion, overexertion, and injuries that she can only groan.  She is covered in her own blood and some of her wounds are still bleeding.  Her grip on the grief seed in her hand loosens.
Clover Rose: Clover turns at the sound of Kiri’s groaning, and actually takes in her appearance. It registers in her mind that Kiri is still bleeding, and she looks around for something that she can use to try to control it. “Do you know anything about taking care of open wounds?” She asks both Tezz and Starlord, looking between the two of them.
Tezzeret Verdile: "I know enough to stop the bleeding." Tezz goes to one of the bodies by the storefront and begins to tear off strips of clothing. "I’m sorry about this, but we need them more than you do." Returning to Kiri with the makeshift bandages he starts to work on stopping as much of the bleeding as possible. "Let’s just make sure we’re ready to leave then. Unfortunately this means traveling by road because we can’t support Kiri in the trees."
Kierra Starlord: Starlord steps out of one of the buildings, stomping away. “No vodka… All.. Gone..” She mumbles, as she sees Tezz tending to Kiri’s wounds. She starts jogging over to the group. Uhh.. Whoa. What happened here?” She asked, a very slight hint of fear in her voice.
Tezzeret Verdile: "We fought a witch, Kiri is hurt bad, and we need to get back to the camp." Tezz looks up at Starlord. "We should leave now."
Toshioka Kiri: Kiri manages to open her eyes. Everything above her is fuzzy. She thinks she can make out someone bandaging her wounds. The world feels faint to her.
"Witches," she breathes. "Hide in labyrinths. Away from real world. Suck victims in. They devour souls… curse people… mysterious murders and mass deaths are… their doing… more than one. There are more witches. Magic is the key. They… they…"
She must warn them.
"Do not… listen to the white cat… it will trick you… and be your undoing…"
She closes her eyes again. She’s oddly aware of her own breathing, even if everything else feels distant.
"… I’mma stab Pitch in the eye," she murmurs half-consciously.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Never….mind… We shouldn’t move her until morning. Let’s try to find a place to stay, and maybe some of the supplies we came for. Like I originally said?" Tezz looks around at the storefronts again. The prospect of supplies remaining intact wasn’t looking too good. "I’m putting Kiri somewhere indoors first." Tezz put Kiri over his shoulder and walked towards the door Starlord just exited.
Clover Rose: Clover follows after him hesitantly. “I think I’ll put this little one indoors as well…” She says quietly, looking around. “Do you think there’s anything else that can attack us?” Her ears twitched as she heard a twig snap, before she realized it was just Tezz.
Kierra Starlord: Starlord looks around, then back at Clover. I think we should be okay for now, but if we plan to stay for a while, someone will need to keep watch. I suppose taking turns is a reasonable strategy.” She said,drawing a sword, and sitting in the doorway of the building.”I’ll take first watch. Who goes after me?”
Tezzeret Verdile: "I can go next, just wake me when you need to. Should we just look for supplies in the morning?" Tezz set down Kiri, Tezz sat down next to her and motioned for Clover to join him. 
Clover Rose: "I think it would be best to look now so we can leave in the morning. I don’t want to be on the road when it gets dark again tomorrow." Clover frowns as she remembers Starlord mentioning the ‘beasts’, and sits down next to Tezz, still holding the child close to her.
Tezzeret Verdile: "Alright, go ahead and sleep Clover, I’m going to go look around." Tezz stands back up and heads out the door. "Hey Starlord? Don’t stab me when I come back inside." Tezz begins searching each of the other buildings in the dark. This is going to be a long night. 
Clover Rose: Clover sets the child down, giving her a look before deciding she’ll probably be okay with Starlord. “No, I’ll come with. I want to look for supplies as well.”
Tezzeret Verdile: "Sounds good. I was going to start at that store at the end of the main street." Tezz walked backwards and smiled at Clover. "I don’t really remember what all we came out looking for, do you still have the list?"
Clover Rose: Clover smiles at Tezz briefly as she fishes around in her pockets for the list. With a triumphant grin, she pulls the list out. “Yes I do.” She looks down at it, trying to decide what they should look for first. “Well, some of these are a little more specialized, we may have to try different shops for those.”
Tezzeret Verdile: "Alright, let’s get to looking I guess."
=== Part 2 ===
Tezzeret Verdile: "Okay, I think that’s good for the night." Tezz leaves the last shop on the street. "We should probably try to catch some sleep anyway. I’m glad you found Kierra a present with everything else."
Clover Rose: "Yeah. She’s gonna love the three bottles of vodka . . even if it doesn’t replace all of the stuff she lost at the party." Clover grinned as they walked back to the building they were staying in. Once they got close, she raised her voice slightly. "Hey! Starlord, I got something for you!"                                                                                     
Kierra Starlord: Starlord looks up from the sleeping child, to see Clover with three bottles in her hand. Her eyes widened. “Is.. Is that what I think it is?!” She asks, standing up, grinning from ear to ear.                                                                                
Clover Rose: "Depends what you think it is." Clover grins at Starlord before walking over and handing them to her. "Here ya go!" After a moment she looks around for a place to lie down that doesn’t look too uncomfortable.                                                                                     
Kierra Starlord: Starlord jumps around a little bit before bending down and giving clover a tight side hug. “Thank you so much! Where did you find these? I had looked basically everywhere, but I saw nothing!” she said, setting the bottles gently in her bag.                                                                                
Clover Rose: Clover’s tail swishes back and forth forcefully as she is tightly hugged by Starlord, although she tries to mask her vague irritation when she speaks. “I found it. And that’s all you need to know.” She smiles at Starlord, pulling away.                                                                       
Tezzeret Verdile: "Alright, well, I can take second watch now if you want to catch some sleep Starlord. Unless you’re fine to keep going for a while." Tezz looks up at the sky. "I can’t even tell how late it is…"                                                                                                            
Kierra Starlord: "I can go for a little while longer if you want to check anything else out," she says, looking up. "It’s probably about midnight. We have a few good hours ‘till the sun rises. I mean, if you want to take watch, you can.." She said, looking over at the two.                                                                                
Clover Rose: "Well, I’m going to sleep while I still can." With that, Clover lies down on the floor and curls up, closing her eyes.                                                                                     
Tezzeret Verdile: "I’ll go ahead and sleep. Wake me when you need me." Tezz went into the house, looking around he decides to take the spot next to Clover. "Night." Tezz lays down, not looking forward to the next morning.                                                                                                            
Kierra Starlord: Starlord rubs her forehead, as a high pitched cry becomes louder and louder. She opens her eyes slowly, and bolts up. “shhhhhiiiit, Tezz! Clover! Child! Crap!” She yells, flopping around, trying to get all of her weapons together, and making sure all of the vodka bottles are in her bag.                                                                                
Tezzeret Verdile: "What in Odin’s name?" Tezz awakes to the child screaming. The first light of dawn was peaking through the window. I guess I missed second watch.                                                                                                            
Clover Rose: Clover wakes up at the sound of the child’s screaming, bolting up as she realizes what it is. She quickly scrambles over to her, and gathers her into her arms to calm her down. “Shhh . . quiet down . . ” She shoots a look at Tezz as the child quiets down.                                                                                     
Tezzeret Verdile: "Is she alright?" Tezz looked back at Clover. "At least we got a wake-up, because it’s about time we get going. I’m going to try and find a wagon, or something to carry Kiri on. I can’t carry her all the way back on my own." Tezz gets up and heads to what was the tavern. "Oh, and, chill Starlord, we didn’t die."                                                                                                            
Kierra Starlord: Starlord turns to Tezz “Ay, Frodo, I wasn’t supposed to fall asleep. Cut me some slack.” She said, pointing a sword in his direction, then sheathing it.                                                                                
Tezzeret Verdile: "Rude. We can’t all be jolly green giants." Tezz continued out the door. Luckily he didn’t have to search for a wagon long. There was an intact one right where he thought there would be, at the tavern. "Cool." He pulled it back to the storefront. "Let’s get loaded up. We should probably get back to camp."                                                                                                            
Clover Rose: Clover remained silent during their exchange, watching with a raised eyebrow. By the time Tezz returned, she had determined the reason the toddler had been screaming - it had amused her. “You think you’re so funny, don’t you.” She grumbles to the child, her tail swishing back and forth angrily.                                                                                     
Tezzeret Verdile: "Come on Kiri, let’s get you in the cart." Tezz was supporting a weak and delirious Kiri as he led her to a cart. "Do you want to carry the little girl or is she riding with Kiri?" Tezz asks to Clover as he grabs the last of the supply haul they found last night.                                                                                                            
Clover Rose; "She can ride with Kiri for now." Clover says, placing her in the cart next to Kiri. "You behave." She says sternly as she watches a mischievous grin spread across the child’s face.                                                                                     
Toshioka Kiri: The still delirious Kiri giggles madly and makes a rabbit head with her hands. “See? ‘S a bunny! It goes pwao!”                                                                                             
The child laughs, and Kiri smiles brightly. “See?  Happy bunny is happy!” She suddenly glowers. “Not white-cat-bunny thing. That thing die. I’mma stab Pitch in the eye.”
Then she keels over onto her side, holding one of her injuries and laughing softly.
Kierra Starlord: Starlord glances over at the kid, and back at Clover. That smile… I know what she’s thinking… *Sigh* This is going to be a long journey… She thought. Sword in hand, they set off.                                                                                
Clover Rose: Clover looks at Kiri with a raised eyebrow, wondering just how long she would be delusional. Walking alongside the wagon, she watched the child cautiously, wondering what her devious little mind would come up with.                                                                                     
Tezzeret Verdile: "Starlord, do we know where to get off of the path to get back to the camp? I’m not familiar with these parts of the world."                                                                                                            
Kierra Starlord: Starlord looks ahead. “I do, but It won’t be easy. Last time I walked these woods, there was a very long rope bridge ahead, that at the time was falling apart. And that was 16 years ago. Odin knows how we’re going to get past that, but we’ll find some way.” She informed, slashing some vines, and bushes away.                                                                                                                                                       
=== Part 3 ===
Toshioka Kiri: Kiri lays on her side in the wagon, still hurt and exhausted, but strangely lucid. She’s aware of others around her, keeping watch, speaking of ways to return to the camp.  They are bringing her back because she can no longer fight.                                                                       
But that witch… witches…
Useless against it. You always were. Always too weak. Weak before the wish, weak after it. Too weak to stop Lillith. Too weak to save her. Better to have stayed weak and useless without the wish. Useless and weak even after it… can’t stop the cats, or Pitch, or witches… should’ve stayed behind in the tea house… better for everyone…'
"Should just leave me…" she mumbles. "Leave me behind… let the witch eat the useless one…was always useless… why did you make that wish for me… wasn’t worth that… not that… Lillith… why…"
She grips the grief seed tighter. Another thought appears in her head. Who were you?  What was your wish?  What drove your despair?'
Should I…?
"Useless," she whispers.  "Always useless…"
She closes her eyes to fall into dreamless sleep.  But as she does, on the edge of the wagon, she thinks she sees the silhouette of a white cat.
And for the first time, she thinks not of vengeance, but of possibility.
=== Part 4 ===
Tezzeret Verdile: "I think that’s the camp… I can’t tell, I’m so tired." Tezz panted as they trudged through the trees and snow. The wagon was beaten and the party was sore from a solid day of travel, but nonetheless alive. 
Kierra Starlord: Starlord starts jogging ahead, and turns around, and starts walking backwards again. “We’re about an hour away. We’ve made good time today!” She said, starting to skip backwards, but trips, and catches herself in a backbend.
Clover Rose: Clover raises an eyebrow at the amount of energy Starlord seems to have. “At least we’re almost back.” She murmurs, glancing over at Tezz before grabbing his hand and smiling a little. She keeps her grip loose in case he wants to pull away.
Tezzeret Verdile: Wha- what’s that? 
Tezz had to glance down, just to figure out what was going on. 
I… well I guess. 
Tezz smiled back at Clover. “Well, hopefully someone can care for Kiri when we make it back, she’s been sleeping almost all day… At least her cuts are healing, but she lost a lot of blood.” Tezz’s face scrunched up with concern. 
Clover Rose: "Yeah... " Clover glances at Kiri and the child, who were still in the cart. "I think it’ll really just take time for her to heal, more than anything else." She frowned a little as she continued looking at the two of them. "I wonder what the King will have to say about this … "
Tezzeret Verdile: "We’ll see when we get there. Kiri is the only one that really knows what happened, so the King may just have to wait to find out what happened." The camp drew close, and Tezz gave Clover’s hand a squeeze. "Well, here goes nothing."
Clover Rose: "The King probably won’t take us bringing the little one back with us very well..." Clover laughs lightly as she says it. "Although I hope he won’t try and stop me from keeping her here . . I couldn’t just leave her." She bites her lip anxiously, unsure of what the King will do when she gets to talk to him. She decides to wait until later before going to him, instead of going to him immediately.
Tezzeret Verdile: "It’s okay, we can just keep her in a room somewhere for now. Speaking of which, I should try and find a room… Let’s at least get the supplies to where they need to go, and find Kiri a healer. C’mon." Tezz put the supplies in the great hall, thinking someone should be able to put them away. "Do either of you two know where we can find a healer?" Tezz turned asking Starlord and Clover.
Kierra Starlord: Starlord looks around, trying to think. “I don’t know of any.. Is there anyone in the group that could heal? I haven’t been very active in the past.” She stated.
Clover Rose: "I don’t know . . " Clover’s ears twitch as she looks around, although she’s not sure how looking around will help. "She seems to be healing already, it’ll probably take time more than anything else."
Tezzeret Verdile: "Hey, Clover, are you… is anyone… you know… n-nevermind. I’m just gonna… go find… yeah." Tezz feels the blood rush to his face as he turns away. He walks quickly in another direction. 
I’ll just look for somewhere to put Kiri and a room for myself somewhere.
Clover Rose: Clover looks after Tezz, tilting her head to the side. She laughs softly, smiling at him as she realizes what he was probably trying to ask. Upon that realization, she quickly walks after him, also figuring that she should help find a place for Kiri.
Tezzeret Verdile: "I think this should work, it’s an empty room with a bed. We can just lay Kiri down here until we talk to the King and figure this all out." Tezz looks back at Clover. "I wonder if Starlord has started in on that vodka yet." He gives a little joking laugh. "Come walk with me I want to look around, I haven’t got to explore this place very much since arriving." 
=== Part 5 ===
Tezzeret Verdile: Tezz was alone again, after a bit of exploring with Clover, he had found another
spare chamber to occupy. Sitting in silence he finally had time to think, but
he didn’t much care for his thoughts.
Let me out. 
No, you can’t ruin the one thing I have now. I have a place to call home now. A family.'
You must.
I will only do that if our body is in danger.'
You must… become us…''
What?
We… become you… I… give me… to you…
I don’t… what are you trying to tell me. Giving yourself to me? I’m not sure I understand.'
You will… Let me out…
How can I trust you?'
Let me out.
Will I have to stop you from killing, here in this home?'
Let me out.''
Tezz was clutching at his head, the other half fighting him in strain for control. His nose began to bleed. 
”Let me.. No, you ca… Let… Not here, I have to prote… Let me out. Let me out.”
'"Let me out."'
"Let me out."
'"We are you."'
"We are you."
The voice in Tezz’s head, now spoke in unison with him. They were one. He wiped the blood from his mouth and left his room. 
Let's go practice'
Let's go practice
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