User blog:MockingJester/Went black and never came back

"Uuhh?" A blank stare afflicts the stance of a shelve lined in purple. Amethyst eyes reflect the very top of it, the seemingly valuable item laid at its peaks. Higher than the fashionable pieces coming from beyond the planet.



Higher than the small humming moon rocks. Higher still than the sliced hide of a passing meteor. Higher even than the gilded pellicle of a swooping meteor. Among dozens of others.



It shines unlike the valuable minerals picked and polished over the years of collection. An attractant to the young infant's gaze, further rushing her miasma horns backward. Youthful the pair is, barely drawing power at the tip, like she is.



This does not stop her from reaching out to the object, shining in a way a beer mug shouldn't ever glisten, even by the lightbulb's direct broadcast.



Lifting her hand towards it, her monstrous instincts compel her upward. The minuscule wings every one of her kind is born with flutter to life from their metamorphosis to real space, radiating in the warmth of their superheated translation in a purple density.



<span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">One flap sends her several meters upside, quickly clutching the last cupboard level where the pristine mug by her hands. Busy as they are, keeping her afloat on the edge, her tail springs to action, taking hold of the mug's handle, reverent in a silver grasp. Its glass flesh converts it to a slight purple tint for the countless pint of Henry's sodas filled and emptied in minutes.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Uuu..." having the object of her interest brings another obstacle to the young gaunt now facing the gap of her feet and the floor. The fall would be too much for her still immature wings, just barely getting her to the mild grasp of the top counter. Her fall, inevitable.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Or was it? Her face, through the split of an impossible second, now snuggles up to a soft surface, cuddled further by the gentle press of a hand on the back of her head. The sensation is unmistakable to the young one, wholly giving herself to her mother's embrace.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ke'lye, what happened?" A soft murmur soothes her ear, feeling the slow descent of gravity upon both, halted midway through. Pulling herself from the tide of the water-like chest, Ke'lye lifts her tiny horns cupped to her sides and look up to her mother.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The first thing her childish eyes meet is the returned gaze of worry turned to relief. A deep purple set of irises reflects her own features, a larger mirror to cast herself into, subtly diving in them in the protection she feels at every time. They take shelter behind an ornate pair of spectacles, oval in nature, slightly violet to the sight.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">They are but the ornaments to a greater visage sculpted to that of a monster. Large, adult horns fueled in their dull prowess, briefly honed in eldritch might as she dashed through the other room at the heartbeat. Their lingering trail still shines from beyond the very room, fading slowly.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">They proudly claim to belong to a head filled with the darkest of hair dripping in a more relaxed substance, slow to coagulate to a reasonable solid-state as to avoid dropping. Two tails face the diagonal of the other, the most focused of edges for mucus.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her larger wings fold back behind her, underneath the knot of the apron she currently wears, a shadow of their true size and might. They quiver as her tail does, knowing of this truest of potential still in his way, suffering the traffic of a course for an ingredient requested by her.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The apron does little to conceal the bountiful shape a typical monster would have, further heightened by the act of holding her progeny close as a mother. Not even the black turtle sweater armored in the overskirt could deny her feminine appeal.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">All of this and more cuddled the young Ke'lye, an ode to her worry, uncaring of the stained ladle only now hitting and spilling sauce on the surface of the floor. Though, this worry does turn to a shimmering curiosity as Lo'rye sees the cup firmly grasped in her daughter's hands. And tail...and wing...and a tiny voice of inquisitive mind "Mommy, what's this doing up?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Lo'rye smiles at the sight of her youngling's interest, her voice soundly broadcast through telepathy "Oh, this? I never did tell you of its valor, did I?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Ke'lye shakes her head, somewhat unconvinced of her mother's words. Her telepathic tone speaks as much, if not her expression "Valor? It is not a rock from space, is it? How can it be so much higher than the rest then?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Why don't I tell you? Would you like that?" The tiny horns poke fervently at her apron, a demonstration of an overbearing enthusiasm for a story. Her violet lips stretch further, casually sending forth a swath of mucus from the palm of her hand shaped to a life of its own. A body akin to her with the sole task of turning the stove to a simmering heat.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">More than enough to allow her a recollection of her mug's path to the highest of spots, her daughter docile in her arms still clutching the anomalous mug, now sat upon the nearest couch. So far, all it told her was that her mother had the habit of taking a drink or two. A strange habit for one dipped deep in a knowledge-filled profession among the cosmos.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Lo'rye's appendages course gently alongside the soft caress of her fingers, feeling her offspring's inquiry, hence, the persistent smile and phosphorescent irises of telepathy "Don't you worry, oh daughter mine. This little inquiry your mind has it's due. Now, let me tell you...~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Club Chaos. Interesting name". Marco stands at the front of an undisclosed corner of a street, devoid of light posts as any other. A slightly unnerving sensation to the lonely man treading the solitary streets.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Hehe, my feelings are telling me to bounce, but Kevin's down here" The taste of Henry's soda foaming on his buds makes an even bigger argument for his entrance, the bait used to snare him to this place "He did offer one on the house, so..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Marco's hand presses on the door, pushing it aside. The faint scent of alcohol tickles his nose, a foot already inside the densely bright innards of light bulbs. Increased neon signs. Televisions, consoles, cellular phones and many, many more.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Case in point, a bar like any other, brimming with discordant voices traveling in indecipherable paths. A counter for beverages of any kind. And glasses just as varied and exotic as the drinks. A comforting sight to behold.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Only..."Oh...ohhh...they're all..." Tendrils swathing left and right. Bodily gazes poking into existence for the mere purpose of spotting anything of interest. Monsters masquerading as true horrors. Overwhelming domination of darker tones on the women.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">'Club Chaos' was fitting. The place was a bar dedicated to chaos monsters and no else. No ghost, no beast, nothing but creatures frightening to the eyes of Marco, who immediately regrets his arrival.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Now, monsters as a whole are always a somewhat surprise to meet when wandering a neutral city, even with everyone welcoming them as women of all backgrounds. Those initially timid or wary in their presence would soon learn to warm up to their proximity. Even so far as to join them in marital ceremonies with the carcass of stigma left to rot in the forgotten space of any apprehending man's minds.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Unfortunately, chaos monsters have the infamous brand of shaping their supposed close ones to abominations wholly worthy of ancient horrors not seen since the lilim's ascension to the throne of all monsters.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Oh god, they're everywhere..." His whisper is a witness to the cape-weaved snowmen burled up in arm wrestling, close to two women wearing little more than a cloak, speaking about mundane subjects.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Or another couple featuring another man and a mind flayer tickling their fingers at the middle, a single drink of two straws.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Or another group huddled up to a console. Mind flayers fervently competing against each other, aided by tendrils seeping from what looks like sentient bells bearded in tentacles. Their eyes wince and express emotions depending on the wearer's disposition, enthralled in gameplay.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">All of it, an infestation of dread afflicting his disposition "I-I-I-I...I think I'm in the wrong spot--" His eyes spot a form walking through the place, stepping in multiple limbs, shriveled and sharp. Dark and metallic. Eyes map its hide in red, some closed, some open, all of them, staring at Marco.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Oh sh--definitively the wrong place!" His hand rubs the polish of the door, waiting to push out to the outdoor.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yo Marco, you just came here, man! Not gonna take up that free drink?" The creature buzzes, seemingly wavering a ten-dollar bill on one of its spider legs. As it does that, light pours from its entirely, spouting spider hair disintegrating before it even touches the floor. In the dying shine of gray and purple, a man waving the money around.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Kevin?" Marco's dread springs to confusion, no longer so sure about sprinting out.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Well, duh! Who would be sending invites here, man?" He still flashes the money, now pointing toward a table deeper in the club "Come on, now! I doubt they'd appreciate someone clogging the door".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ohh, I will when you tell me exactly why? Why here? Why with them? Why are you going 'spider walker' right now? Why only tell me now?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yea, yea, I've got your answers. But not here". Again, he points to a table featuring three pair of red, blue and purple irises barely glimmer, just enough for Marco to notice. Still hesitant.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Come on, dude, no one's here to murder you or anything" Acting with haste, Kevin's back sprawls a spider limb pointing downward, lifted to tether on his buddy's shoulder as to pull him in his walk.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Dude, dude, dude! You serious?! They're not your typical monsters! They're weird and--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yea, they are. Just like the lizard woman that came spiraling around. And the beasts kind. And the magical ones. And the--you know where I'm getting at".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"No, no, no. They were just different looking. They don't change people to weird amalgamations of horrors and such. I'm seeing creepy fur things and writhing belts around here with a pretty good idea of where they got those".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yea? Well, look at me. I have limbs. I have eyes. I know a one-dollar bill from a ten. You're worrying too much, man, just relax..." By the time Kevin was done dragging Marco, they were at the front of the table where the three illuminated gazes and glances now claimed property of their persons.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"So..." Kevin shows a rise of hands toward a tendril-haired woman dressed in an alluring manner. A teasing convoy constantly sending swath of signs to something bountiful underneath "...this is Yiol'Enda and Samuel".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Why hello there, handsome~ Her fingers wave seductively, her body clutched close to the man standing beside her, eyes half-closed. As she does, so do her hair of tendrils, laced in an elegant long-standing syle.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Marco remains still, stiff in a den of lions and tigers. An amusing sight for the second guest Kevin was to present to, clearly demonstrated by the rattling of spider limbs foreboding her tone "Oh, wow, five seconds in, and he's already stiff as a plank. You're free getting that stick out of your ass anytime, hon'".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Dear, please. He's just...new here". Kevin shakes his head, a grimacing laugh returned as a response.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I know. I can smell it, alright. A little man thinking we're all out to eat him. Or worse. Who knows?" Lining her eyes to Marco, the spider woman flashes her devious teeth "Maybe I will...if he keeps marinating in his own piss like that".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Kevin's spider limb feels a brief strain of effort at keeping his buddy from bolting out the door, resulting in further laughter from the woman "Sorry, sorry. Be'Tanyi isn't one to keep her tongue in her gums. Better get used to that, friend".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Sure, why not spill my whole backstory while you're at it, dummy? Get your apologetic ass over here instead of playing chaperon for a shooked little man!" Her finger stretches from him to her. Her voice, surprisingly devoid of any true scorn toward. Alluring even to the man in question, drawing him near to her while making sure to have a spot prepared for Marco.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He sits, instantly converged on by the straight-spoken woman, once again, looking back to Marco's stiffness "Hey! Deaf boy! Rub the crap off your eyes already! Did you not see the seat pull express for you?!"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Slowly, he does. Frightfully, under the amused stare of Yiol'Enda and impatient glare of Be'Tanyi, somewhat unnerved at the persistent rigid movement of his assumption "By the gracious, I was kidding! Lighten the hell up already!"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">~Oh, let it go, dear. It's as he said. This one's new to our...brand of being.~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Well, he's looking like he's gonna have a heart attack up the throat the way he's darting! It's grating as hell!" She turns to Kevin, a thirst for drinks "Would you order something already!? I'm annoyed and thirsty!"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Already did before coming in" Kevin's voice conveys pre-cognition, the sight of a slimy maid wandering by catching the eyes of all present. Bouncing hips, shameless in their proud display bearing the artifacts of their desire: a shivering bottle for all.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Drinking and laughing, Kavin briefly speaks of his meeting with Be'Tanyi, forbade by what could only be classified as a staunch argument over a pack of a valuable something. Their drinks had loosened their tongues, but not enough to decipher the details before joining in arms and caresses. Tender words whisper from one to the other. The same with Samuel And Yiol'Anda, taken in the touch of kindred intimacy as the average couple.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">All while Marco had relaxed a bit, knowing to be invisible to the most 'demonic' looking women, taking in his Henry's soda of grape flavor. Perhaps, not quite--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Uhh?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">-

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Hmm?" Lau'rye takes a gander at her daughter still clutching the object of interest in her tiny hands. Relaxed as she is in her mother's arms, she was taken by this little anecdote...up to this point.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The tiny glare she showers her sheltering mother is tainted in worry and a hint of sadness, hidden behind a facade of emotionless tenure "It sounds like dad is scared of you...of me..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The twin-tail adult lets a simmered laugh out as she passes a hand through her little one's cheek, warm to the touch "Was. True as she was in her attempt to get him to simmer somewhat, Be'tanyi never had the best track record for speaking to those not used to her blunt mannerism. She didn't help all that much with his coming back. Often had to be persuaded by his friend."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ohh...ohh!" Another caress comes sweeping the left over expression of regret aside. Ever shone on by her smile, once an untested feature, now a might to burn down the deepest of blues. Her lips split apart, taking in a breath as to start anew over a pair of attentive eyes waiting, yearning...

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">-

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He thought to breathe easily, the chaos women enthralled in their own bubbles of hobbies, or show of affection. Only, looking in-between Sam and Kevin, there she was. The third woman. One who made herself unnoticeable to her friends.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A finger tracing a mug by its edges, stained in the quenched residue of her lips. Her eyes now lock to Marco's, curious in her expression. The lower section of her face is hidden by a turtle neck drafting the colors to the tip of her horns.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He freezes in place, gaze scrutinizing. What could she be thinking of, he wonders. But fear crept upon his face, all too aware of being the sole interest to the woman.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">One looking not to his flanks where two others were taking slow sips of their drinks.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Not to his back, where the switch was still held firm by the gaming flayers and their spouse doubles, now hurling harmless banter over a game of 'Super Smash Brothers', the latest version.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Not even the two Wendigo not embroiled in the showmanship of their mutated spouses held to this moment in an arm wrestling, sweat gorged down their pelts.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">But, the only other celibate present. One her eyes lock to with a dull expression, filtering no emotion through the glimmering irises. Having her turtle neck conceal her chin up to her nose didn't help the voice calling to his attention "How interesting..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Marco was fearful, a step away from turning and sprinting. If not for the de-escalation offering. For a second, he saw her place a hand on the table, wings of ever-moving liquid swelling and moving in the steps of a tide over. For a second, she was standing, spurning Marco to turn tail and run.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">However, the next second input a tug on his sleeve, a point to his table. Ten seconds passed before Marco acknowledged the woman close to him. Twenty seconds before feeling her tugging fingers. Thirty to see her pointing motion. Forty to hear her voice "I'm sorry, but are you not thirsty?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His body was enthralled in the throes of panic, the thought to flee mounting, only to them see his mug. He had emptied it when nobody was looking. Well, she must have seen it, as well as the pace in which he drank it. A favorite of his, a thought glancing across her expressionless eyes.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Huh?" Putting his overwhelming instincts to flee, to run and never return on hold, Marco dares a gaze where she points. His mug once again filled with a shivering bottle by its side, the violet mix of alcohol and sweet waiting to quench its next customer.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Wait...that's for me? You're giving this to me?" Looking at her, heart in strings, he is subtly delectable to see her nod, a grasp of elusive tendrils coiling around the mug, now resting on her hand. At his side "You seem...somewhat unnerved. I thought to offer something to ease you".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ohh..." He dares a touch to the trembling mug, bubbling in fizz. The soft linger of mucus permeates on his palm, the shot fully entrusted to him "...ohh..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He sits back, slowly, deliberately. The disturbed air tells the same of the woman sitting nearby, her own share by hand. Her head glances sideways over his 'thanks', knowing his next question in mind.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Well, what's your name--". She lifts a hand over the rising inquiry.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Lo'rye". Her breath is slow, calm, placid.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Lo'rye? Lo'rye" He reads with a bit of difficulty, his mind, ticklish over the mere act of seeing the process. Never the less, he turns to her, a somewhat timid look on his face "Well, hum, I suppose you already know I'm Marco".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">She nods a second time "Of course. Your friend here talks a lot about you". Her mug moves close as she places herself in a recipient manner, looking expectingly at Marco. He is somewhat taken by this "Ohh, you...you want me to tell you about myself? Hum, ok, if you return in kind".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Of course. You first, however. I wish to hear from someone new to our little den" For the third time, she nods, just once, a mug in her hands. His voice starts spilling carefully, more enriched by the taste of sweet liquor in his buds. Slowly and deliberately closing the gap between them with passing days. The days becoming a week. Weeks becoming a month.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Slowly, inch by inch, his fear of chaos, quietly peels out like paint overdue for renewal. Its replacement, closer proximity of the duo two. Close enough to feel the other's warmth exalted by the liquor flowing in their veins. All behind the same mug she ever presents to him. A returned offering of peace. An offering of...more, perhaps.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">One briefly halted on a particular day moist in rain. Heavy rain keeping Marco shackled to the club whereas others, coupled in two, wandered out, a home to return. Their interlinked might make the dense fall nothing more than an unnoticeable nuisance.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Man, I won't make two steps outside before I'm soaked..." He jousts his arm outside, pelted by the hundreds of concentrated bundles of water, feeling grail rushing to meet his sleeve in wetness "Maybe I should call a cab..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A finger taps on his back, prompting him to turn to Lo'rye pointing to the rain "Is the rain bothering you?" Curiosity strokes her placid eyes, unchanged in spite of the slight rise of said interest in her voice.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Well, I'm not exactly rain-proof" Marco pulls his drenched arm close as a showcase.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I see..." Lo'rye takes a look at it. How wet it is. How heavy it must feel with the water soaking it. How uncomfortable it'd be to walk under the constant rain.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her glasses tilted upward to meet the mourning skies, she takes a pace outside, a hand tethered on Marco's own palm. His voice is in shamble "Hey, hey. hey! What are you doing?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Bringing you home, like the rest..." Her eye briefly glances back and forth, walking with him in tows. A swath of mucus comes rushing upward, flaming at the very edge of it. A makeshift umbrella prone to burn every bit of rain daring to fall over the duo.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Marco watches the purple flames feeding off the slime while fending off the rain, ushering the two in a warm atmosphere. Ignorant of the others moving out in similar prowess. With the slight difference of men acting against the onslaught of water. A sight caught up in Lo'rye's gaze.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">They cross a street, blur by the fog of rainfall, plentiful in its boundless reach. Having come and left this place, he knew the corners they took was the one opposite to his casual path home. His voice says as much "Hey, hey, hey! This isn't the path home! This isn't--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I know. It is mine" She shortly turns a glance behind her, an increasingly panicky man at the beginning of the resurgence of worries One she turns away from with a simple idea to try and quell it "I have someone I wish to demonstrate to you. I recall you mentioning your interest in objects from space, yes?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes...?" Marco now lays confused "What...of it?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"You shall see how pertinent it is..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Eventually, however, they reach for her home, a dressing of organic-like structures befitting its innards. To state that Marco was amazed at the artifacts that score its insides "Wait..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Artifacts hovering on small altars, docile in their spin. They are seemingly attracted to Marco's sense of wonder, illuminated by the pillar that enables their hovering close to him "I know you took those from your work post, but...to display them so earnestly..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Indeed. I have a persistent fascination for objects drifting in space and the place where I make my living allows me to keep samples studied as benign decorations".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"That...that is..."Marco had a stringent interest in things from space. The deep black and it's content. Lo'rye knew of it by their lingering talks. The rain had become a manifest opportunity for her to bring him here. To witness her co-joined share in the observation. To open up, subtly as it is, to the possibility of...

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Lo'rye turns to Marco, the latter, still playing with a cosmic stone embedded with a faint glimmer of tellurium buried at its bottom. She nods "A lunar piece set adrift. A meteor struck it recently. One made of the same mineral that inhabits the stone fragment".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Really?" Marco takes a gander at the piece, seeing the glint of silver reflected by the ambient light "I didn't know that".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"A few did. I was among them. A rare moment to take samples en masse".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"That sounds..." His voice is febrile, teeming with excitement. She knows the hold her trips have on him. Foaming it was in due, done with the arrival of another piece floating from another small altar in a blue hue.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"This one..." She speaks in her persistent disinterest, slightly raised only to catch his attention "This one is a relic from a comet. It must have impacted some astral body to leave debris of its own mass along".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Really? How long was it? The trail, I mean". Taking it to his hands, Marco is instantly assailed with the shivering revelation of ice constituting it.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Well..." Lo'rye turns to meet the ceiling in ponder, far from his hands playing 'hot potato' with the block of ice trying not to hold it for more than seconds "I recall it having double the size of its tail. About eighty-eight meters before the remaining of its mass stopped bleeding out blocks".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"That's fascinating" The freezing block does little to impede his strong interest to her words. To the stories of every fabric left to decorate her room. All of them, numbering in the dozen.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The night falls as quietly as their tone, leaving the process of the outside dark away from them. Questions and answers entangle them close, burying anything else deep underneath. A burial bringing a confirmation to Lo'rye. A doubt now erased. Burnt. Galvanized. Replaced by a throbbing yearning.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">One Marco couldn't help but spot in the fleeting second of blush warming her cheeks to his touch. One even he was surprised to act on "Hey, you seem...ill. You alright?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes...I am. Do not worry about me". She looks back to him, the purple strokes stubborn on her gills. Marco was about as unconvinced as any man would, leaning just a bit closer.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Are you sure? I can get you something if...if...if--ha, haha" Marco had joined his second hand to her cheeks, caring little for the border he was intruding on the principle of worry. He knew little about monsters, let alone chaos monsters and thought this some unknown illness. Lo'rye returned the apparel with her grasping fingers under his armpits. Tickling.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Hahaha, haha haha, haha--what are you doing--hahaha" His armpits are brushed by the tickling of her nimble fingers. His grip on her cheeks, weak as it was, is already elevated to a task insurmountable with the waves of tickle joining his chest. Tendrils sprawl from her back, her wings, all dedicated to the art of poking a man in his sensitive areas.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The mucus spreads and coats over him, gradually. No haste in their ceaseless touching, sampling him as they did the minerals. His size, his height, his weight, his pigment, strength, agility, taste, preference, sensibility, endurance. All of it, he feels it inspected, sampled from the top of his hair to the tip of his toenail.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The mucus starts spreading in its yearning to know of who it coats. No meters, but micrometers of ink washing over his person, running from the center of his chest to meet his hips, his knees. his legs and feet. Submerged underneath his clothing as if but attire gaped in hundreds of holes.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">From his chest to his shoulders, his elbows, his wrist, and fingers. Wrapped around him, a layer fixated over his very person. Sticking and adapting to his body, molding itself to his thoughts.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Wait---hahaha! What is---haha---this? What are you--hahaha! Haha, hahaha--hhfff!" From his chest to his neck, his chin, his ears, and his face. The mucus, now walled around his face, cutting his breathing for but five seconds.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">At this moment, Lo'rye mounted him, intended on the greater scope of his body, mapping it utterly in her arcane fluid. But now, she disembarked, watching his twitching at the clutch of the membrane moving alongside.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The emotionless facade that so long-coated her now brittle away in the process of masking him in her fluids. Not content with merely watching his struggle against the strangeness afflicted on his body, she moves behind him, now seeking to guide him through this seemingly sordid act.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">His head rises and falls on account of her hands to the woman's knees. The fingers, wrapped in her docile flame, now clutch to sides to his molding facial. He was reconstructing, moving away from the human genome.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">And, he was lost. This change she inflicted, it sent his mind in a space of infinity. A cold place among the breath of the void. Millions of stars looking back to him, all portraying a gaze infinitely mighter than then. Older than then. They observe him. It observes him. This attention is more than he can cope with, rendered lost between the foreign sensation of his mind and the madness clinging fervently.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Marco..." A voice calls to the depth of this place, illuminating the stars. A call from a singular star painted in purple. Motions unknown to his mind, slow to adapt, but adapting never the less, moving through the simulation of eternity. All hidden and burned to his renewed cognizance.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">An eternity crossing the plane of a second in real-time. A minute at most. One spent. Marco no longer resembled what he once was. His body, left without the mind to anchor it to the living world, cracked under changes no man was to endure. Its withering process, accumulated to its brittle shattering...and re-forging.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">The mind that left returned. Changed, and unchanged. Human and inhuman. A harmony once thought impossible, bringing the best of two worlds. The pieces assemble anew, singing the hymn of a new body attaching to the head, largely unchanged, save for the eye color.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He was him again. His eyes slowly open to a world he was re-aligning with. Subtle changes are now wholly visible to him. His head raises from the comfort of Lo'rye's lap, the latter, tired. Only when he fully stands does she acknowledges her exhaustion.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">This exhaustion prompts her to plant a mucus-void hand to the floor, panting, battling for a breath of fresh air. The hymn that inhabits her horns in a majesty purple no longer presents itself. Her wings are largely shriveled.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">All in the contrast of Marco currently looking at his own hands. He was human again. And more than human, as demonstrated by his hands now afflicted with a dull purple, waiting to fill itself with the same fluid flame that recovers within his host.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"So, this is the reality of men taken to chaos..." He clenches them, seeing mucus swirl from impossible places atop his fingers, soon igniting to a majesty flame "It's like looking at the edge of my humanity...and what I am. The other side, it calls to me, deep in my skin. It beckons with urgency, begging to take me whole".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">He looks behind him, witness to Lo'rye's unyielding pants. His eyes snapped, crossing the threshold. His body snaps as well, wreathed in mucus soon lit ablaze, the fluid, solid in place. No longer in his humanity, Marco now bears the shape of an avian. Leather wings gleaming from within. Atrophied limbs for arms and legs. Claws sundered in the fire of his baptism, receded in their current purpose. A midsize beak knitted together as a mask would, leaving no space for it to split open.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Hey, are you ok?" His voice peers through telepathy, his hand, reaching for her arm. It cups underneath, lifting her close, more stringent support.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Yes...yes...I'm sorry" Marco's avian features twist in mild surprise. Their repeated meeting to the club often, if not always, left him unable to decipher her expression. Here, it was as if a veil lifted from her eyes, allowing the apologetic stare to spill over for him to see "My kind...we never truly are used to offering this bundle of power that held us high..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Marco's body sheds its new shape, flaking away from the mucus. Back to his bare self. His hands hold her close, devoid of any allusion to anything less than intimate proximity. The well of eternity he was plunged to spoke of their aligned interest. Aligned hearts. Co-joined minds. He knows holding her closer in his arms, panting on his shoulder feeds hers the power she branded him in, in greater unison.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">And still, she speaks, beholden to her unveiled emotions "I'm sorry...your friend, he said that...you were...and seeing as I was...I thought that...I didn't want to miss the opportunity..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Hey, hey, hey..." His hand comes cupping her chin from his shoulder, lifting her glassed eyes to his "Why are you on repeat? I already know. It's fine. All of it is fine. Frankly, being human settled it for me...among other things".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"O-of curse!" She snaps in her casual tone, heart relieved to see her promised eased into his change "I would never take that from you! None of us would, not even..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"As I said, it's fine" Silence fills the room, leaving the two gazing at each other. Eternity allowed her to soothe his worry, his fear, hesitation, and any other things. An eternity in a minute, a preview to their lives now entwined.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Although, now that I'm supposed to become the harness for you to fly away, I don't know how that'll converge to---

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ohh, that?" A smile shapes on the woman's lips "No worries about that. Our translation, so to speak, is simply means to, how you humans say, a..." her fingers make quotes "...fatter check. Having us converge with a close one essentially means further territory for us to research in. Take in things we couldn't before. Did you forget this is a monster-friendly city? Everything is done in place to allow people like us to make use of our highest of selves".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"So...I can just walk in, no explanation at all?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Well, as my harness...yes. Although, you'll need to register once they find out about it. You know, since you'll be working closely with me".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Well--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ah, you think we fashion the same pair. Alas, we are going to stand out as we are. What with the bone-like solidity you are prone to bestow us in. Or the sentience that brings heightened alacrity. Or the seamless flight. I could go on, honestly..."

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Really?" Marco feels his hands fill with Lo'rye's body, her hips taking the whole of his arms coiled around it, a parallel to her arms swooping around his nape. Once again, they're words fall in silence, leaving their proximity to speak like a nascent twosome. Unsure. Hesitant. Wondering.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Wrapping him in her bundle of liquid arcane had momentarily made her timid. Wholly at his mercy, one he spurs on with the new thought appendages urging him on. One he follows with a lean-to her face. A press to rob her violet lips in a seal. An introduction to a world skirted around by his footings for the majority of his life wary of those within, dreadful of the abyssal individuals.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">One he renounces, enthralled by the woman widened in surprised, melting over the brief and fateful repetition of their meetings, accumulated in this small, yet pronounced reinforcement of their bond.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">All of this, over the benign act of offering a common interest in the age-old and refined drink, dipped in grape flavor. One slipping under her sleeve, subtly removed from where it hailed. On her other hand resting close, a familiar bottle filled with the oozing purple liquid yet to be opened.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her expressionless demeanor is forever diminished in his view, replaced with a timid, yet soft-spoken woman dancing the mug in which they drank in, looking to bring their newly joined minds and hearts to the humble catalyst of their bonding.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Marco tries and fails to keep a chortle "Did...did you just up and rob this mug away?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Well...no. I...borrowed it. I just forgot to tell the barmaid. I-it's just for today, I-I swear!" Lo'rye somewhat squirms in his arms, the delivery of her power really cutting aside her calm demeanor.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"It's alright. It's a celebratory moment, isn't it? With all the talk of couples making right, I'm sure she won't have any issue with it".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Right! Right". Slowly, she pours the liquid in the grape-scent mug. Pure in its radiance, a favorite of two. She pours it underneath the calamity of rain pounding the domain she calls home, white noise to the two...

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">-

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"So, you finally jumped in, eh Marco?" Tonight was another night where he crossed the dimly lit streets to the club. A place filled to the brim with chaos-attributed monsters vacant to their own activities.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Marco did so alongside Lo'rye, noting how somehow well lit it seemed to him. An attribute to his newfound insight confounding the more mundane men of the modern world.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">And their arrival came constantly goaded by the other pairs with no end to rag on to their respective gendered friends. Kevin was by far the worst offender to this, teasing and laughing while egging his buddy in "Hey, hey, friend. I  <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">see <span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true"> how embroiled you are with this 'chaos' woman you were wary of. Seems the wings fit better than you expected, huh?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Dude, I get it--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"You imagine the number of drinks I had to offer you just to ger you over here, saying 'I know they're different, but hear me out...'? Seems you finally cast that dubious wariness away, did you?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"He isn't wrong, friend. Can't quite recall the amount of time he called. Or the empty bottles" Samuel chips in, a more relaxed stance on the situation. All to Marco's dismay.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ok, ok! I get it! Neither of you needs to rag on! Jeez, I'll reimburse you--

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Oh, no, no, no! Money ain't gonna bride me, man! I'm not letting you live this down, buddy! All this fear. All this dread you threw around and now...look at you..." Kevin spreads his hands toward Marco, his crimson eyelids will able to denote the avian form standing at least one and a half taller meter than his friend. The shape he keeps hidden.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I get it, I was wrong, ok? Yes, I can re-scale to this--" And Kevin continues ragging on him the same way the women of the group compliment and boast over Lo'rye.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I say, it's about damn time you got someone of your own! And, the wimp, of all people. Talk about cathartic!" Be'tanyi taps on the gaunt's shoulder, ever crass in her speech.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"I'll say, it's always so delicious to seem one once coated in such distasteful fear embracing the methodology of a one devoted as us~. Yiol'Enda takes to her many tendrils coiling around her arms coiling around Lo'rye's back, unfiltered in her intention "This timid demeanor you take on is much more favorable to the stoic fortress you kept on~.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"W-well, it's only temporary" The victim to her tendril massages squirms slightly under, open to the sensible touch of anything looking to ease her in her instincts, let alone a mind flayer.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Well, I know exactly how to keep it strong...~ her whisper comes warm, speaking of..."But enough about that. I think we can finally get our fun little game started~.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Oh shit, totally forgot about that!" Be'tanyi moves form the duo, quickly rushing to her mate, hands-on his shoulders, whispers in his ears amid his teases. His face lights up in a grin, not unlike hers. He takes a deep breath and lets off a brief, but noticeable light deep in the crimson. From his back, bumps struggling to find a spot to burst out of. Two miniature rifts swirl on precise points where two slender limbs spill out, dressed in pairs of eyes as red as the bestial moonlight. They mutter the aura that contours them.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">On the other side, Yiol'enda slides to her S.O. with fiery murmurs, her eyes lining up with the others in an anticipating manner. Mirroring Kevin's bulging spider limbs, his own fingers shine against one another, morphing deep in his palm's skin. They merge, surrounded by a pale light, shaped as two scaled tentacles wreathed in translucent energy traveling its hardened flesh.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">All the while the barmaid comes around, a plateau of cold beverages lined along with empty mugs. One of them is specially directed toward Lo'rye, confounded by the maid's tap and the glint rising from Samuel and Kevin's display of unnatural limbs. A glint from a shiny piece laid within, myriads in silver.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Wait...what's happening?" Marco looks confounded to the two others making hybrids of themselves, a tentacle and spider limb taking on each other in standby.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"What's happening is that you're getting into gear, buddy, we're having a Mexican standoff!" Kevin clenches an arm in Marco's direction, a limb mimicking it in a more open gesture.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"A what?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ok, so, Sam here is a squid man. I'm a spider man. You just got yourself initiated to a birdman. Sea, earth, and air. And our wives have been looking to see which of us three can bring it to win it. We just needed someone close to Lo'rye to finally get ourselves a Mexican standoff: chaos edition. Peeps have been waiting on this for quite a bit".

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ohh, ok...wait, peeps?" The sound of loud and monstrous cheers populate the immediate space around their table, filling with legions of gleaming eyes and appendages. Men and women, tethered in darkness, goad on the confounded Marco unsure of what to make of this "Ok, since when is this a thing?"

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Dude, don't worry about it, just draw!" Kevin goes in position, waiting for his extra appendage to feel the moist touch of flame-hardened mucus.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Ok...I--" Hands come coiling gently around his shoulders. A soft voice precedes the tone of a woman blissful in a question her mind already answered. A question set by his subterfuge amidst their return.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Lo'rye's eyes shine with the devotion she held within, waiting to spill it on her promised one while pressing her entire top behind him ~Yes. Yes, I will~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Short confusion bewitches the previously confounded man, the clarity of a silver band coming to quell it as it wraps around her diluted purple hand, stainless among the mucous.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Her eyes line up with the two others waiting still on Marco, the most unapologetic grins on their faces following the realization of his little stunt. A faint, yet confident smile stretches her lips ~I'm sure you'd want to reverse their endless teasing. I'd love to see their expression sink~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">She needed to say no more. Knowing he had himself, someone, to call 'his wife' was more than enough for him. A request like this is merely akin to a close one looking to win a plushy at a carnival. One that only further enhances with Yiol'enda and Be'tanyi boasting their own brand of encouragement under the unyielding roar of the crowd seeing something of a rainbow in the thickest of rain.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"Looks like someone is already coming down with a case of arrogance with her new status. How about we 'correct' that, hmm?~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">"No, no, missy, he'll be the one correcting it. Isn't that right, dummy?~

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Marco's hands become seemingly possessed by his otherworldly self, contaminated by his vaster power prowling all the way to his elbow. Wet mucous pouring from his pores, ignited quickly as to solidify them in a persistent empyrean flame of blue and purple.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A stark border between human skin and other is clear on his arms, his control allowing him precise mutation as he sees fit. His brand against Samuel's translucent tendril that wraps around his palm. Against Kevin's glowing spider limb that he clenches around, conflicts of aura starting long before their arms begin their struggles.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Under a cacophony of noise from the crowd yelling out in enthusiasm in the sight of their table bucking and threatening to sunder.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Under the hymns of their conflicting attributes seeking to dominate the other in a three-way standoff.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">Under the roaring encouragement of the trinity of the women confident in their brand of chaos attributes seeking to spur their husbands to a victory. They sing and shout their voices and tones to their utmost as if they were at the center.

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="color: rgb(28, 30, 41); background: transparent; margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt;;" data-preserver-spaces="true">A basic contest made all the more enjoyable by its simple rules, rolling in throughout the night...