[quote=@LuckyBlackCat]Recalling something one had mentioned, she hummed a song she sometimes heard street musicians play. Holding a distressed person while humming could supposedly calm them with the vibrations. She tried to keep the tune gentle and even, but her breath juddered in her chest. Compartmentalising was all but impossible right now. [/quote][quote=@Grey Omen]Cedar holstered his weapon on his back, then held his hands in front of him, palms up. He took a step back, assuming his best 'I won't hurt you' stance. He tried to think of something calming to say, then promptly decided against it, settling on silence instead. [/quote][quote=@drewccapp]She put a grin on her face and reopened her eyes. She could see colors and vague shapes now, but everything was a blur. [color=pink]"Oh dear,"[/color] She giggled. [color=pink]"I messed up. I'm not going to be much use for anyone in this state."[/color][/quote][quote=@Plank Sinatra]The tall girl brought herself down on a landing pad and began rappelling down into the alleyway via vines; as good as she was, it seemed too dicey for a girl as tall and muscular as her, aboard a glider, to make a descent directly with everyone else. While they dealt with Ruskali behind her, Iris knelt and inspect the corpse. [color=6ecff6][i]Whoa. What's with the ring?[/i][/color][/quote] Ruskali shivered in Rose's hold like a leaf in a hurricane, his stained teeth bared, his filmed gray eyes wide and wild and sightless. But as Rose began to hum a gentle tune, Ruskali slowly stopped struggling and began instead to gurgle a wordless sound in his throat. There was nothing left of him but a heartbeat, a trickle of breath, and a streak of cold tears down his sallow, dirty face. [color=B6C6AB]"Nobody really liked him anyway,"[/color] Fluke commented. He'd walked up behind Rose, the little drone perched on top of his mask, and he lilted his head as if Ruskali were a funny street performer. His gaze shifted toward Listener, who seemed to be wobbling around a bit more manically than usual. The shorter Ze ambled up to her and waved his hands in front of her mask. [color=B6C6AB]"Hey guys, I think Listener can't see. You really rolled a one on that hit, huh?"[/color] he laughed. Ruskali's knees buckled, and his weight drooped toward the ground as if he no longer had the strength to hold himself upright. An echoing voice hummed a faint tune in the empty square. While the vines and flowers shivered, and an armadillo scuttled across the cobblestones, they could hear someone else singing the same tune that Rose used to calm Ruskali. It was faintly coming from the broken windows of a high building that was veined with vines and violet flowers. Rose might recognize the voice as that of an old friend. Cedar, however, would hear a very different voice. One that no one else could hear, that whispered inside his own skull: [i][color=gray]'tnelis peek. gnihton od. yaw eht uoy wohs lliw i.'[/color][/i] Meanwhile, in the alley, Iris might discover that the healer's corpse was pale, hollow and gray-eyed, thin and emaciated like the hosts of the Nox. The black ring seemed nothing unusual, except the skin around it had turned a deep bruised purple, and etched into the smooth dark surface was a circle with a dot in the center. It was a symbol of grounding, of energy and purpose. It meant a higher calling. It was the symbol of Amalgam.