Muttonhawk — Roleplayer Guild

Mostly a fluffpost because I need to write SOMETHING before all items on my to-do list go out of date.

In the dead of night, Minus plays chasey and dances with Lazarus' old body in a familiar fashion.

It doesn't know why. It just likes doing it.

The dance is interrupted by Majus making contact to swap reports.

In a panic of someone caught with their pants down, Minus pulps the corpse to make sure Majus doesn't find out about the dancing.

Turns out Toun has been fairly quiet since the Oath of Stilldeath.

Slightly annoyed, Minus returns to disguise in the goblin reverse-harem it made for itself.

There were always moons that graced the night of Galbar. There was always some amount of light that reflected from their surface to guide nocturnal creatures of the valley. Most nights painted the grass in shades of grey and blue, other nights tinged orange or brown. The goblins below did not appreciate it. The night was for sleeping, and they preferred the colourless dark of their burrows.

Natterings about their newest boss -- the tall brassy hain that they hardly realised had the same name as their previous boss -- began each night after work in the fields. Activities transitioned into eating, copulating, and eventually sleeping. Their snoring competed with the crickets to narrate tonight's bright blue moonlight, as it did most nights.

One did not snore. She was a quite one, for a goblin, though she fit in well enough. Said she wandered up from the coast looking for a husband. She found a few. Hardly a pimple on her face, she had. She wasn't bad with the farming tools, either. All the better for a good guarana crop for the boss. Stayed alive better than any of the other gobbos, but she was shifty, just like tonight as she opened her eyes.

She slid herself out from the communal pile of droning rovaick and stood up with a stretch. She often went out on late walks, scratching her left buttock and lurching into the open. She was accused of snacking late at night, though it wasn't as if all the others weren't guilty of similar indiscretions.

She looked the part of a stout slug of black against the blue painted grass, clomping along with heavy foot-thumps. They might have been muffled by the taller grass, but as she stepped onto one of their packed earth pathways, the way her footsteps became quieter was unexplained. So too, was the way her legs and torso silently stretched into a form that was taller and more slender. A blink allowed a transparent cape to float from her shoulders and a soft clinking of chains to sound. Her head was replaced by a white helmet and her entire body gleamed.

The goblin-turned-slender-humanoid continued its graceful strut down a ridge from the burrow. It paced to a stop near the small lake that irrigated the crops. The soft wind made the blue light sparkle with white from the moons and stars, but none of this disturbed the perfect silence.

Minus raised one arm, palm upward as if lifting a weight until it stretched horizontally. A slosh of water invaded the silence and another silhouette rose from the lake. A body, limbs limp and navel arched towards the stars, emerged from the water. Filthy with silt as it was, the dull greys, silvers, and blues of its armour and garb identified it as a certain discarded vessel. Minus curled one finger and the body floated over the water towards it. The dripping from the soaked fabric continued to disturb the scene, poiting and patting into the lake and bringing shimmering chaos to the pattern of reflected light in broad, overlapping circles.

Minus had no words in its mind. Even if this wasn't the first time it had tried such a thing, any thought about the situation could be summed as the mild excitement that came with pushing boundaries. It had not been instructed to do this, nor had it been forbidden from it, but no one knew of its actions but itself.

When the body slowed to a stop within reach of Minus, the weights of its chains snaked out like blue porcelain boas, curiously clinking at Lazarus' old body. Without so much as a tug on Minus, they lengthened and coiled around the corpse's limbs, coating it in writhing chains that soon wrapped around the torso and the neck. The body, now firmly under the ministrations of the chains, turned upright. The visored head rolled forward, just as lifeless as it had been before, but the arms curled forward with consciousness, offering themselves.

Minus turned its own visored face down, looking to one of the dead hands, tilting to the other. Its own white, gauntlet-clad hand reached to take the offered left hand. But, just before touching, they both became still.

That wasn't the game.

Minus stepped back and lifted itself into a hover, dripping mud from its pointed white sabatons as it gained a yard of altitude. The chains gave more length, though the corpse rotated to track her movements as if alive. Bringing its featureless gaze to the corpse's helmet, Minus stepped over the air, circling the corpse until they were both over the lake's waters.

I have to catch you, Minus thought. You know the game.

A whoosh of air attacked the water as Minus flung itself forward with arms outstretched. A wake of water sloshed from behind it with its speed, but the corpse had moved. As if sidestepping the avatar, it had shunted itself to one side and turned to keep track of Minus once more. Its head lolled back with feigned mischief.

Minus spun in the air and tried the exact same manoeuvre. The exact same situation played out.

But I know the solution. I always have.

Minus lowered its arms and hovered upright. Its chest swelled with an unneeded breath. It was held for a moment and then released at an almost imperceptible pace.

Enjoyment from contentedness. Life from harmony. Perfection in imperfection.

With renewed grace, Minus extended one leg a fraction and leant forward. It floated over the water, only disturbing it with a silent dip of one pointed sabaton. Perfectly silent. It slowed to a stop in front of the corpse and looked up to its visored face. This time, Minus took the corpse's left hand and the other hand placed itself against its waist. Minus rested its own left hand on the corpse's shoulder. The corpse's head lolled forward again. Relief.

The corpse stepped silently to one side, Minus followed in sync. The corpse stepped back, Minus followed forward in sync. One foot followed the other in a rhythm of counted threes. The water rippled without so much as a drip, tracing the avatar's steps through the air. The waltz spun faster as they traversed the lake but never lost any grace.

This was the part where Minus always spent half its time wondering and the other half basking in the odd feeling of peace it brought. It had no idea why it enjoyed this dance. It didn't seem to care. Still, the corpse never seemed right to dance with; Minus was still its own partner while it dictated every movement with its chains. It wondered what a real partner would be like to dance with. Minus would have to give up so much control, but just to know would be...

Report.

Minus tensed up, arching its spine in a surprised jolt. A tremendous series of clicks and crunches preceded the chains collapsing in on Lazarus' corpse. A spatter of blood threw itself across Minus' blue armoured front and the body slipped into the lake, obliterated beyond any use or repair. The chains pushed it down into its hiding place, though it would not be recovered now.

There have been developments.
Speak.

The chains rang up out of the water in a stream of wet slishing and thunked to their shortest length.

Vestec was summoned by Lazarus. Lazarus has taken leadership over the horde, though it may be temporary. They also created a creature known as a dwarf. A servant race for Lazarus. I was not noticed.
Speak more of the horde first.

Minus stared down at the darkened waters beneath itself, looking at where Lazarus' remains now dissolved into the lake. It recited its report as it usually did, giving all relevant details to its twin and receiving new information from Majus as well.

Such interactions were needed for clarification since Toun had become silent. He was still in Cornerstone but worded messages had not been sent since he made the Oath of Stilldeath. The twins continued communication to make up for it.

They spoke across the mountain range for several minutes until they were both up to date. Details on Sularn, Conata, the realta, and Toun's cult in the area reached Minus' telepathic ears. The usurping of control from Tez to Lazarus and Vestec's involvement was conveyed to Majus in turn. By the end of it, only one last question burned in Minus' mind.

...
There is something further.
Why did you contact me at a different time interval?
The news of the blinding purge, of the realta, was conveyed as a priority.
...
Is the purge a threat to Lazarus?
It is unlikely. Time will reveal.

There were no further enquiries either way for several moments. Majus had the first word, Minus had the last word. Their interaction faded without a farewell, as it always did.

Minus continued staring into the water. It was perfectly silent once more, but without a dancing partner, there was no charm to it. It floated to the shore and it began walking back up to the burrow. Minus' silhouette shrank down to the size of a goblin once more. Her husbands might want to try and mate again if they were woken up, but Minus did not have the heart for any more acting tonight. The goblins tended not to question inexplicably being put to sleep this late into the night anyway.

Pierette curled her lips and placed her palms on the table. "Well, I will trust your judgement, champion. If she is in debt to her city, you might bring her a down-payment with you so she can negotiate with her creditors." Pierette sighed. She did not sound especially sure of her words. "If she is lucky, they might allow her to leave for a time, but I cannot see it being easy."

Sabine murmured just loud enough to be heard. "She will be away from Rukeewei for a long time. If she agrees."

"Will you need to carry a significant sum, Meesei?" Vera asked. "We are on a tight budget after moving. We have only just established our crops. If we will not be left enough to purchase food if they fail, the risk may be too great."

"We have other treasures than gold," Darahil suggested before Meesei could answer. "Soul gems, ingredients she would pay great amounts for in her climate, artefacts. We need not send a wagon of coins."

Janius' smile turned down as he tilted his head. "Curious," he remarked. "I've never heard of a clan werewolf who wasn't in a pack." Janius moved his arm from the back of the bench around to hold his mug in both hands. "You make it sound like you were groomed for a leadership position. Are you related to your predecessor? What was growing up like for you?"

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