Just Like Home (Demeter;Tassadar)

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Idian's fingers grabbed Demeter's cheeks and lifted them until she showed a fake smile. "Underneath that grumpy face is a smile waiting to come out~" he cooed, smiling himself, before wrapping an arm around her waist and looking to set up camp now that the sun seemed eager to set with the ending of the witches and their harvest. The man they 'saved' was taken prisoner, and kept with the coven, who, despite their first impressions with him, were feeding him and treating him fairly well for a prisoner. He didn't have to sleep outside and he got a decent meal.

Idian was helping bring wood for the campfire as the sky turned orange, a sign that night was soon to follow, before he gave Demeter a nudge and gestured his head towards Octavia, who stood away from the fire and leaned against a tree, facing away from the camp, her back to the elf while she held up one hand, conjuring a small flame with a seemingly great deal of concentration, before a small gust of wind blew it out, the threads that composed the wind smashing the fire's threads to pieces.

Meanwhile, Bubbles was playing patty-cake with one of the smaller witches.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Demeter gave Idian a forced smile quickly, unwilling to argue over something so small at the time, and leaned up to give him a peck on his lips when he grabbed her by the waist. She did what she could to help set up camp while he wasn't paying attention, erecting a tent by hand while he was out collecting wood and pulling out the assorted cooking tools they had, and checking their food supplies. The coven apparently had their own, and were evidently taking the man they'd found as a slave. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, but opted to let it drift from her thoughts quickly rather than think too heavily on it, knowing that she didn't really have much reason to attempt to argue the point anyway since they'd be taking energy from him rather than from her.

She didn't miss Idian's gesture, and with a sigh the tired elf climbed back to her feet, having been seated as she looked through their food supplies. She shot a glance at Bubbles and smiled, boosting her mood slightly to see the sahuagin playing so, before looking back to Octavia as she seemingly had trouble with such simple magic and steeling herself. Approaching, Demeter announced her presence to the witch as she came within a few paces by saying; "Having troubles?" Her question was asked innocently and without accusation, and she stopped while still outside of the witch's personal space. She had left her staff by the fire, and allowed her arms to remain by her sides in an entirely relaxed pose, making it seem as best she could as if she hadn't come by to start a confrontation.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Once Demeter announced herself, Octavia folded her arms in front of herself, not making any motion to turn around. "Our opinions tire you, and yet such a thing is a concern?" She asked bitterly, letting Demeter know that her words to Octavia and the witches stuck. "She's near," Octavia said without waiting for Demeter to make a reply. "The way she followed our trail is terrifying, and here I am, with no fucking means to defend myself. Oh, but I thank you for your concern." Octavia snapped at Demeter, glancing back at her with what first appeared to be frustration, but was but a mask for fear as any keen eye would detect. Octavia was terrified.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

"Magic is an opinion now?" she asked quizzically, acting as if she found this to be an intriguing revelation. The witch's fear was plain for Demeter to see, however, and her declarations were unsettling enough to the elf that she readily abandoned her attempts at mirth. "You are sure of this?" she asked calmly, "I had thought you would get a share from that man, is this not so?" She bit her lip uncertainly, "Your associate made it abundantly clear earlier that the energy I give is of little use to you."

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Octavia rounded on Demeter when she was asked if she were sure. "Of course I'm fucking sure!" she shouted, her eyes wide, and traces of tears threatening to show, before she turned around again, and pointed her finger towards the moon in the direction she was facing before Demeter approached, which hung over the sky in the direction they came from. It was faint, but if one looked closely, they could see small white flower petals flowing through the sky like snow. Given the nature, it was as if a gentle doom was looming over the sky. "That, and this cold sensation... She doesn't try to hide her presence, and she can selectively make people feel this damn fear, making them appear insane, or even think themselves insane, her own sick and twisted way of sadistically torturing someone before she kills them!" Octavia announced, her voice getting quickly louder until she was screaming. None of the witches looked at her oddly either, all simply lowered their hats to avoid looking at anything with their eyes. None wanted to see the flower petals in the sky, the Flower's sign that she was watching.

All but Octavia didn't look at the petals flowing endlessly from the sky, a large announcement from the presence herself to those who fled from her, indeed a person who liked to toy with their prey. Octavia's knees seemed to give out as she got herself worked up over it, before she leaned against the tree and sank to her knees, trembling. "I'm going to die... I don't want to die..." Octavia cried, before Demeter could finally see it. The tiniest threads connecting to Octavia. If the witch never said it, it would have been too fine and discrete to detect. Extreme talent was put into those threads to make them so stealthy, and from so far away. They were digging into Octavia's mind, and squirming through her, agitating her sense of fear and making her suffer the terror tenfold of her approaching demise.

"Octavia is the one she's after..." A witch said hesitantly. "So... She gave us her share of the energy... Because she's going to die." After having said that, one of the witches tried to justify it. "I-it's not like it'd have made a difference! That little bit of energy... It wouldn't be enough..."

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Demeter didn't react to Octavia's shouted response to her question. She'd expected it by that point, as much through the witch's body language as anything else, and so she stood there stoically while the witch seemingly broke down in front of her. Her own explanation, the words and actions of the others witches, and the barely detectable threads of magic attached to the witch, their source unknown, all suggested that Octavia's following words and the actions surrounding them were fully justified.

Somebody was targeting the witch. Demeter scowled darkly, and after shooting an annoyed glare at the witches who had pronounced their leader dead, Demeter calmly walked around the witch to face her squarely. Eying the magical threads, Demeter formed some of her own into an invisible blade, one that would cut only magic, and lashed out, cleanly severing them and freeing Octavia from their influence unless they did something to avoid her attack. At the same time, Demeter seized Octavia by the chin and forced her to meet the elf's seemingly enraged gaze.

"Are you trying to make me angry again?" she spat coldly, and calmly slapped the witch across the face with her other hand. "Calling me a liar now are you!?" she shouted, slapping Octavia again. Only then did the elf seem to calm, though she still held the witch by her chin as she continued; "I told you when I agreed to have you along that I wouldn't let this... Thing... Kill you. Do you think I'm going to sit here and do nothing just because it throws some scary magic at you? Like you or no, you are my comrade, and I do not abandon my comrades. Nor do I renege on my promises. If this beings wants you, it's going through me first. You are not going to die!"

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Octavia gave a start, her eyes wide, when Demeter severed the threads that held her. Stunned, Octavia did nothing as her chin was grabbed, and her face promptly slapped. Octavia replied with nothing to Demeter's words other than a subtle whisper. "She's here."

Not a moment followed before a sudden and unwelcome gust of wind came from the direction of the flowing flower petals in the distance, almost strong enough to tip Demeter over onto her side and off of her feet. Following right behind it was a sudden rush of what seemed to be black mist that completely blocked the flow of light, as if a magical force sought to wrap the camp in a cage of darkness and leave no escape for the victims inside. The only light allowed inside was the moon itself, as if the offender was setting up the stage of a grand and beautiful performance. Everyone in the camp panicked, it didn't matter who. Octavia curled up in fear, the witches all banded together for fear of their own lives, Idian and Bubbles were back to back as well, before their eyes looked to the white petals beginning to shower the camp. Like gentle snow it fell onto those who stood in the shroud, and slowly, the petals and the black mist began to turn a deep shade of red.

The ground began to tremble, as Demeter would sense strange roots of demonic structure tunneling rapidly through the ground, each headed for a member of the camp, Demeter included. It would be all Demeter could do to simply fall out of the way in time before she would get impaled, but when she managed to survive, she'd see that all of the others did as well, making it obvious that it was meant to miss all except one. And that one whom it hit was impaled right through her center, the root holding her up through the hole in her torso. It was planned as if the one responsible was a master at manipulating the reactions of others in such subtle ways to make them do whatever she desired, and it was rather effective in it's work, as Octavia hung limp on a dark root sticking out from the ground, her blood painting the root red and drenching the ground crimson.

Emerging from the red mist, the villain in question first made her shape known, before she gently flew into view on naught but a red cloud, and hovered over Octavia. She put her elbows on Octavia's impaled body, and rested her face in her hands while staring directly at Demeter with an eerie smile.

Spoiler

I FOUND YOU

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Those words, whispered as they were, caused Demeter to pause and scowl. It would be something of an amazement if she didn't sense the approaching presence given the show that it put on, evidently for her benefit. She would have been lying if she'd said that she wasn't at least slightly intimidated by the show of power, needing to shield her face and brace herself against the wind and then jump out of the way as the roots erupted from the ground, missing everyone... Except one. Demeter's expression ticked initially as she looked upon Octavia's gradually rising, impaled form, and then slowly settled into a scowl just before the person she'd been afraid of appeared.

"Excuse me!" she shouted up at the obviously hostile stranger, ignoring that it had spoken and putting on a brave face. "That belongs to me!" she said commandingly, "Do you want something? I'm pretty sure that I don't want any of whatever you're selling."

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

The flower girl giggled at Demeter's reaction, before the threatening vine tipped over and simply let Octavia slide off of itself and flop onto the ground at Demeter's feet. Octavia's eyes were wide and trembling as the hole in her body maintained itself. She seemed completely paralyzed and unable to shake off what had happened to her. "My apologies, dear Demeter. I didn't know you would be displeased with me cleaning up the trash," she said in regards to Octavia, making a mere gesture at the witch while her eyes never left the elf. "I offer nothing but a gift to you, a poor elf who suffers from the corruption. It's a chance to be free of the shackles that bind your mind and shackle your true self, to be free of corruption." she announced. The girl seemed to be getting closer as she talked, but Demeter would only notice how close suddenly when she was close enough to gently tickle Demeter's chin. "I could have sent Octavia to deliver this simple offer, yes, but I felt that it would mean more if I delivered my offer in person, though the poor worthless dog left me lonely on the date arranged for you and I to meet." she said with a smile, again regarding Octavia in ill light, clearly not happy with her.

The woman took one of the white flowers from her body, and shaped it into a simple and yet beautiful white flower with a smooth stem that was easy and actually comforting to hold, before handing the flower to Demeter, "A chance to rid yourself of the corruption, I make no lie. Tis what makes your soul that way that draws the attention of individuals such as myself, and my dear, you will draw much more attention before your time is done. But I can see that your mind favors a simple life, devoid of such bothers. Take this rose, it's not an option, and think on my offer. Do not answer now, think hard on it. When you have come to a decision, either breathe onto the flower to show me you have accepted, or plant the flower into the ground to show that you ever so politely refuse." she said simply, her tone quite businesslike rather than showing any form of menace.

"Think hard, Demeter. You can change your life." she announced, before all of her roots suddenly withdrew, and the woman herself suddenly burst into white petals, her presence fading entirely, with the petals turning to dust and the red mist slowly dispersing, it's odd corruption hanging heavy in the air, a kind of corruption Demeter would never have felt before, much more heavy, and angry, without the sexual allure that she'd be used to.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Demeter's gaze didn't follow Octavia's fall from the vine, allowing the fallen witch to vanish at the periphery of her vision while she kept her eyes upon the offending woman. Listening impassively at her first with her face set into a grim stony expression, only moving to pull away from the reaching fingers so that the stranger couldn't make contact with her, but when the flowery being mentioned a prearranged meeting she spoke up briefly; "Yes. I do not take kindly to people attempting to kidnap me, you see."

She took the offered flower, taking great pains to keep any contact as brief as she possibly could, but said nothing more as the strange being finished her speech and vanished. The elf had listened to every word, though she doubted that even a syllable of it had been delivered with any genuine good intentions. The idea of this creep having any good intentions toward anything was almost laughable, and the thought that it was offering her something beneficial out of the goodness of its heart was veritably insane. Looking at the flower in her hand and sensing the foul violent aura left by the vanished being, Demeter briefly considered burning the thing with magic right then and there before sighing and opting to stow it into a pocket in her ragged robes.

Turning her attentions to the prone Octavia, Demeter's expression twitched momentarily into a scowl. If she had received such an injury, she'd have been dead, and no amount of magic would have restored her. Octavia, however, was a witch, and possessed a body more made of magic than of flesh, and thus could survive being impaled through the chest just as she'd endured empowered strikes from Idian with few ill effects. The key, however, was her energy supply, and Demeter knew that she had little at the moment due to her earlier prediction of death. Knowing that, Demeter glanced behind, at Idian and Bubbles and the other witches, before dropping to her knees and cradling the fallen woman. "Stop not listening to me!" she snapped in readily evident annoyance, and then began to work her magics, causing the bloody wound to heal rapidly before her own eyes. In many ways restoring the magical shell was easier than healing a natural body,

That did nothing for the woman's lack of vital energies, however, and that was where Demeter momentarily stalled IF Octavia hadn't displayed any signs of awakening by that point. "Nothing's ever easy with you lot, is it?" she remarked under her breath, largely speaking to herself rather than anyone else, before silently opening the front of her robes slightly, partially exposing the curvature of her chest but not fully baring her breasts, a slight blush appearing on her face despite that it was barely more than partial exposure. "You had better stop bitching at me after this!" she added, before quickly taking one of Octavia's hands and pulling it into her robes, allowing it to settle over one of Demeter's breasts with the palm hovering over the nipple. Her peaks had always been fairly sensitive, and even the minor stimulation of the hand over it was enough to cause it to harden, the nerve endings growing more sensitive the more they were touched. Her body was primed after her week long celibacy following the night after they'd left Sophia's castle, but that was a good thing given her end goal.

Beings like Octavia absorbed energy far more easily through pleasure than through anything else, and it was that very connection that Demeter was trying to create, gifting the witch her own energy despite how spent she was after the escape from the village. "Feed.... Feed damn you!" she murmured, closing her eyes and blushing deeply as she rubbed Octavia's still hand over her bust, trying to form that vital connection and then causing it to widen once she felt her essence leaving her, allowing Octavia to drain her through the pleasures inspired by the forced rubbing of the witch's hand over her bosom.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Octavia's hand was placed upon Demeter's breast, and with her form restored, the witch showed little reaction at first, but her soul was quick to latch on desperately and feed off of the offered energy. Demeter would better learn of the issues Octavia spoke of as the feeding process took place. The feeling of Octavia's energies mingling with her own made Demeter's head feel light. Any worse and she'd wish to throw up. Moreover, it soon became a battle of sorts to keep Octavia's presence from entering her too much and taking too much or latching on. The act would make Demeter feel stressed and not at all comfortable.

Before it could continue beyond giving Octavia more essence than she needed, her eyes would shoot open, and rather than continue sucking out Demeter's energies to fill her own reserves up, Octavia suddenly wrapped her arms around Demeter's body. Her arms clung to the elf's back for dear life as the witch trembled terribly, as if struck with a deathly illness. Where her face was, Demeter would feel tears wetting her skin and dripping down to stain her clothes. She didn't say a word, simply embracing Demeter with such dependance on her presence.

Meanwhile, Idian was smiling at Demeter, both happy that things seemed to be alright for now, and that he was right in his observations. Octavia very much looked like a simple scared girl now. Just from this contact alone, Demeter would learn so much about Octavia. Her fear of death even telling the tale of why she became a witch. The eternal youth that came with indulging in the Sabbath was all to avoid old age and her inevitable death. And now, she seemed to only fear death even more.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Demeter's eyes had closed as the disconcerting sensations of her essences mixing with Octavia's, and as such she was surprised by the sudden withdrawal of that sensation. For a second she though that the witch had died, and her eyes snapped open just as Octavia grabbed her up into a tight hug and started sobbing into her shoulder. Glancing over at Idian with a blush, she clutched rather awkwardly at the witch as she cried, completely at a loss of what to do about this. The woman's fear of death was readily apparent, at least, and that much Demeter could appreciate to some extent.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

After everyone calmed down, especially Octavia, Idian was the first to speak. "So... I guess we just keep going? I don't know what to do after we met someone like that..." Idian said with uncertainty. Meanwhile, Octavia had a surprisingly meek and obedient face on, and was quiet even still. Bubbles seemed disinterested and pointed to the slime lands, wishing to move forward.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

"I... Guess, yes." Demeter replied to Idian, and while Octavia's changed behavior was somewhat strange, she tired her best to ignore it as she got up and readjusted her robes, ready to set off herself.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

And then they were off. They traveled along the slime fields and met with a few of the slow moving creatures along the way. The witches didn't even need to expend much magic to kill, a simple example of magic and the slimes were frightened with the possibility of being fried by some spell and as such, were quick to leave. But slimes were notorious for being sneaky, and as such, Demeter suddenly had one hugging her from behind. "Mugyuuu~" it cooed, wrapping it's slimy arms around her.

"OHMYGOD DEMETER!" Octavia cried with a shock. "Don't... Move... I'll get it off." the witch assured her, slowly creeping up on the slime to safely pry it off of the elf.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

The sneaky slime, initially causing Demeter to panic before its strange words caused her to become more confused than frightened, grumbled to herself before calmly replying; "Save your energy." With an effort of will, she caused an explosion of powerful force to emanate from all over her body, hopefully hurling the slime off of her and taking a few pieces of it off.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

"MUGYUUUUUU-" The slime screamed, before becoming a star in the sky.

"... That wasn't saving energy at all." Octavia said, astonished Demeter sent the slime into outer space.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

"I... Didn't intend to put that much into it!" Demeter admitted, surprised at the power with which the slime had flown off. "That.... Wasn't supposed to happen...." she muttered sourly, almost feeling somewhat guilty for what she'd done to the poor dim-witted creature.... Until she remembered what such beings were and how they were made, at which point she merely shook her head and continued on her way.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

"Do you perhaps hate slimes, Demeter?" Idian inquired.

No matter what she replied, they would make their way through the slime fields until they found an area that was mostly devoid of the natural slime that seemed to coat almost everything. Every witches gown including Demeter's own shoes and skirt (if she had one and it went low) were varied in how soaked in slime they were. Idian went about making camp, before they had a fire. The slimes would stay away from the fire as they would easily mistake it for magic.

Suddenly, for seemingly no reason, a thought about Demeter's own sister would cross her mind. She'd be aware of her existence from younger days, but they didn't exactly grow up together as her sister quickly took to the corrupt path. Such were the days when sleeping with humans meant you might as well be giving your intimacies to a slug, and a thing her sister was accused of vehemently. She, Demeter's elder sister, even boasted it proudly before the elders. Rather than expect her to be the better sister, Demeter was then looked upon to be the next one to follow. Always expected to eventually lay with a human just as her sister did, and looked down upon for having someone so shameful in her family.

As thoughts of her sister came uninvited, as if an outside force provoked them, it seemed she wasn't alone. "Demeter... Do you have a sister, or a brother?" Idian asked suddenly, and every witch at the camp listened closely, while Bubbles was already fast asleep.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Friend and Foe of Ancient Past (Demeter)

Annoyed by the slime clinging to the hem of her robes and her slippers, Demeter was suddenly reminded of her sister, a woman she didn't remember at all because they had been gone before she'd even been born. Demeter had only ever heard of her, and lived in her shadow after she'd become a mamono, as Demeter eventually had after her exile had pushed her into corrupted lands following the revelation of her demonic father. Even her mother had spoken of her sister derisively on the rare occasions that she had acknowledged her pure-blood elven child, and Demeter knew next to nothing about them as such.

She apparently wasn't alone in being inspired to such thoughts, though she still looked surprised by Idian's question. "No," she said simply, "I have no family. I was disowned by my mother and haven't seen her for over sixty years, when both of us were exiled. I suppose I had a half sister, and might have more depending on what my mother did after she left me for dead, but I never met her and don't even know her name." It was another factoid she had never revealed about herself, but one that she had long ago stopped caring about given the distance she had from it by this point.