[Hider=Seren][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/KRURxYv.jpg[/IMG][/hider]Searching Lalisa's mind for an escape, Seren's mind began to [color=black]blot[/color]. When that unmistakable sensation took hold of them, it was not a simmering tingle, but a searing [color=CC33FF]growth[/color]. Sprouting from Lalisa, taking root in Seren's chest, and twining around their bones. Suffocating the [b]off[/b] and shaping Seren's spine straight. Rather than dilating, it was as if their pupils began to wither and float away like crushed leaves in the wind.
Somehow the scent of stale gingerbread wafted to their sense of smell; somewhere an inner voice decried their slowing pace; and someone's sprinted steps skidded to catch up to the two. The two. Recalling they were even with someone pulled Seren up the precipice, but they were not on solid footing yet. There was something very [b][color=CC33FF]wrong[/color][/b] about this dream, which was more a quagmire of memory muddled with an [color=CC33FF]influence[/color] Seren couldn't quite place, but knew they felt before. Either way it left their body on auto-pilot, while the autonomy of their mind was entranced by delving deeper into Lalisa's dream. A growing number of [color=black]leches[/color] still sapped Seren's spirit underneath their baggy clothing, so the danger and flight impulse stayed strong, but only as sustaining as candle fire.

[Indent]"Here, I'll carry her, you just make sure none of those slugs got on you."[/indent] Seren didn't struggle or assist much as the teleporter took Lalisa from their back. Even with the growing distance between the two, the connection was not severed, but the boy's appearance shook a little clarity into them. Seren brought up a hand to scrub their face, and didn't take note of the [color=green]tint[/color] budding from the center of their palm, or the [color=black]slug[/color] inching its way up Seren's sleeve. [B]Off[/b] mixed with the overgrowth of [color=CC33FF]influence[/color].

[Indent]"Hey come over here and help me get these things off of her!"[/indent] It wasn't directed at them, yet still the exclamation resounded off their skull until it's echoes blurred; [color=CC33FF]singing[/color] frequencies soared into a scream.
[Indent][i][color=CC33FF]'Mother!'[/color][/i][/indent]
Seren smacked their left [color=green]hand[/color] to their ear. [I]'No!'[/i] Something was flickering Seren and Lalisa's bond, and through the gaps Seren's wisdom seeped through. They flattened their [color=green]hands[/color] at their sides, reverting back to the forced passivity of younger days spent covering up hellish nightmares and Seren's walking into dreams of horrors they could not comprehend. Pathetically faint they muttered, [Color=FAD7A0]"that wasn't real."[/color] Seren could feel a set of eyes on them, but they couldn't force themselves to do anything but stare. Even then, they exhaustedly blinked ahead. It was all they could do to just restrain from giving into the [color=CC33FF][b]wrong[/b][/color], and submitting to the dream. However a moment of peace and focus was not to be had, and their broken concentration invited splashes of [b]off[/b] that numbed where the [color=black]leeches[/color] suctioned to.

[Indent]"What are you doing!?"[/indent] Seren wobbled. The [color=black]blots[/color] in their mind widened, and stretched their stamina paper thin.
[Indent]"She doesn't need a guy defending her!"[/indent]Seren [color=black]hollowed[/color]. [color=CC33FF]Warmth[/color] spread like flames licking logs. Their vision [color=green]dotted[/color]. It wasn't [color=green]black.[/color] [color=CC33FF]Whispered songs.[/color] Splitting [color=green]skin[/color]. Their [color=green]hand[/color]. Their sight wasn't [color=green]black.[/color] A [color=CC33FF]scream.[/color] Seren [color=black]collapsed.[/color]

[@OliveYou]
[@pandapolio]
[@Canidae]
[@QueenNugget]