Little lamp, flung from the flock (open)

The very idea was horrifying. But… Akeldama grabbed the spork with her thumb and forefinger, hand shaking as she took a better grip of it in her own hand. She was a survivor. And soon these would be her new masters.

Masters that wanted obedience and entertainment… And if she didn’t provide it they may take it out of her in the worst of ways. Akeldama wasn’t going to underestimate their creativity or their barbaric nature.

They had no fear of consequences, not even needing to hide their heinous acts from this town. She had to get in better with them. She had to entertain, to impress.

Akeldama grabbed his face by the chin to be sure his head wouldn’t move, then attempted to stab his eye with the spork, doing her best to yank it out. Only… Not quite knowing how. She’d done it with enough force that the plastic spork had gone in, but it wasn’t just popping out when she yanked it out.

The girl was of course surprised when it turned out to be like... Light that came out of his eye rather than blood. But she squinted to block out some of it and kept going. She had to keep going lest she suffer worse than she was going to make him. And boy would Akeldama do it. Far worse than she had to, for her own sake.

The little girl was trying to make it look like she was intentionally butchering it rather than just having no clue how to do this. She felt queazy getting her hands in on this, so eventually she tried to scoop out the muddled mess.

She finally had the eye in one hand now. And now, trembling she reached a bloodied hand into her pocket and pulled out a metallic, ancient looking flask, pouring the alcoholic beverage into the now- mostly empty-  socket.

The raven haired girl didn’t know if any of this would mean anything to her new owners. She hated how she had had to hurt the only person who had tried to help her. Even now she was trying to hold back both tears, staring at the light that had collected on her hands. She was horrified. But… It was nice to create pain rather than have it inflict it upon her for once. And what pretty blood he had.

Akeldama would survive no matter what it took. And if that meant that this man take all the pain she knew how to inflict upon him then well… Hopefully it’d mean something. Hopefully at the very least he would have accomplished his objective in saving her.

She wouldn’t be free, no. But perhaps this might get her in their good graces.

With trembling hands Akeldama offered the now jelly-like substance that had been Theo’s eye to Veve.

Whilst she wasn't at the forefront of the action for sure there was something she gained from this, a euphoric high of sorts. The dreamweaver was probably the one she was closest with, a deep bond settled between them from the mutual agreements of their superiority and the boredom of this world which they had to drag away to reveal the intrigue. Then there was the little one, quite new to their folds yet the pet wasn't exactly that boring by any means. It had shown spirit and energy, defiance yet that was shoved deep within as it took the spork from her partner and approached Theo who was being tightly restrained. Honestly was the little human truing to make minced meat with the eye it was rather well done if she had trying to be as instead of a nice succulent eyeball what came out was a deflated mess. A slightly chuckle rose forth as she watched with careful eyes the reaction of the dreamweaver upon being presented with the treat. "The best kennel and plenty of treats oh I will keep that in mind honey dearest." Atleast Vernika was finally returning her pet to her, she had missed the small creature just a little. "Pet- come back to me. Once my partner is finished with this thing we can get you a comfortable kennel to rest in and some nice biscuits!" With a slight hand she beckoned the brown haired child forward, perhaps acting more like a mother than expected it would be the closest the exceed would show to love.

It was odd in a way, the dreamweaver seemed quite happy to hand over the goods to her as long as there was sufficient emotional and physical pain extracted from them. Not that she was complaining as the man was being thoroughly taunted after all. She knew, after all no one could quite mimic others like the dream weaver. A slight purr came from deep within as she moved forward to stroke under Theos chin- the male looking oddly like veronika this wasn't exactly a bad thing. After all the dreamweaver had given her a chance to play with someone who shared the appearance of a blond female. "Oh Veronika you have done quite well. Now Theo, I suppose we can't exactly call you that anymore as you don't look or even sound like yourself. Terrier it is, boy go over with my other pet. You two get well acquainted, I feel a war machine on the horizon" soft hands pushed the human who looked much like her friend towards the smaller human. She doubted that they would run, after all they had seen what veve would do, but they really hadn't seen what they would do together. With a new guest on their way this was sure to become quite the spectacle.

He came with anger, looking over the 'Theo' that he knew unknowingly growing angry due to what was just a mere illusion. He rarely did such emotional outbursts, the dog tended to be more subdued but perhaps they had nicked a nerve. Smooth steps only brought her closer as she circled the duo, Ahote thinking he was protecting his friend whilst really they were just slipping a little spice into the dogs life. Her fingers tailed across the back of his neck before yanking Ahotes face to look at her. The only sounds for a few moment were the slight clicks of disapproval before her words. "Really now you get so protective over nothing. An eye is replaceable you see and nothing much compared to what he took from me. I should have taken so much more- it would have been well within my rights." A saddened glance towards the eyeless man on the floor before she continued to speak. "But you see, I was being nice after all he is a guildmate. So yes, we took an eye in compensation as he tried to take away my pet." Whilst taunting a wasps nests was good and all there was always a time for distance. Dancing back a few steps she raised her brows and motioned 'go away' with her hand. "Go on take him home. Knowing that creature who bleeds the holy lights he will heal up just fine so curl up on your bed together and hug him tight for all I care. The lesson has been learned." Would he take the bait? Come after her with sharp nipping teeth only to be put back in his place so he could go home sulking with a 'Theo' who was really Veronika? Or would he leave now, recognising that there was little he could do to exact revenge.[/color]

So it had worked. Probably. Thought Akeldama with a glimmer of hope. And it was at that very moment that the new person walked in. Demanding to know who had done this to Theo… Or rather, what Theo looked like now. She hid her hands behind her back, then noticing the spatters of light blood that had gotten on the front of her tattered dress. Damn it.

She hurried over to Ambrosia’s side at her command, hiding slightly behind her in the hope that if Ambrosia really considered her her pet, her property. Maybe she would protect her. It was the only hope Akeldama had at this point. Even her future vision was pointless, as it kept showing her futures for which she had no hope against combating. She was powerless here.

Momentarily Akeldama was left to wonder who was the war machine. Was it this new guy? Or the situation? What? “Master.” She whispered up to Ambrosia, desperate to nudge the situation in her favor. The little girl looked up to Ambrosia with pleading eyes, clinging to her skirt with light-blood soaked hands. If playing the part of the obedient pet could get her better situated then she’d do it. She would play whatever role was needed. So long as it meant she'd stay alive. That man had murder in his eyes. She couldn't allow herself to be ended like this. “If you protect me I’ll show you a cool trick I can do.”

Lurking. That's what Iris had been doing nearby this whole time, sometimes barely containing himself.

The currently male Basilisk Fang didn't come down to the town much, so it was really an instance of fate that he was passing by, having procured a large stock of empty jars from a small potions shop and safely whisked them away into the portal he requipped from. A collector must always be prepared to acquire new items, so the very notion of running out of jars was a terror. What if he found an irresistible pair with unimaginable magical powers, only to have nothing to put them in and watch them shrivel and cloud?! The very mental image tightened his throat muscles into a gag, yet he managed to control the ugly sound. Beauty was his other passion, after all, so he couldn't be adopting unattractive mannerisms now. It'd be a disgrace to his handsome face, perfect hair, and stunning fashion.

As he neared the end of an alley way on his reluctant way back to the chilling mountain trail up, some voices reached him. Two were unfamiliar, but the third he registered as the one who had stamped his bottom; The Welcoming Committee sticker thing. A fellow guild mate and something so full of mysterious power, he was drawn to it despite its aesthetically underwhelming and confusing appearance. Just as the ocular enthusiast was about to turn from the building's shield and insert himself into the conversation, he paused. It seemed he might be interrupting something....hinky. A peak revealed someone radiating psycho queenship he had only glimpsed inside the fortress he now called home, and a rat. Oh wait, that was a girl! The limp, dull-black hair and tattered clothes repulsed him instantly, keeping him at bay. Why were they concerned with the scrawny thing? The man was too curious to circumvent them and keep on his way, so he'd stay to see what they were up to.

Things got weird fast. The brat became a plaything, a pet, to his two guild mates. Her eyes kept doing this thing that made him marginally more interested in her directly, despite her appearance. Diamonds in the rough, and all that...though if those were diamonds, they were in something far worse than the rough. Now another guildie was here, the darker one with the scrumptious body but always sour expression. Quite literally, what was a nice guy like him doing in a dark guild, anyway? Iris was unconcerned with the fate of the child one way or another aside from maybe getting a chance to play with her eyes, but that could be said with anyone he met. Before he knew it, they'd embarked on a quest to fak Theo up, and Iris could only curse his lack of comfy chair and popcorn.

The part about the eye, that really almost had him leaping out from around the building he used as cover, but somehow he managed. For now. There was a jar of some blue liquid in his hand now though, ready to go rescue that poor mangled eyeball...how dare that little snotty nosed tween use something as disrespectful and crude as a plastic spork! The child did it all wrong! Iris bit the knuckle of his index finger so hard, galaxy hued blood started to trickle down his arm. It was hard to watch. In his pocket he had the perfect eye scoop that he should have volunteered, if not just for the sake of that precious vision orb! A shiver quaked from his skull down his spine, the hairs on his arms standing alert and perturbed. He'd have to teach that tiny neanderthal how to properly enucleate someone someday, if she was going to be hanging around now.

While normally he'd be uninterested in the ruined jelly pile that was once an eye, seeing the 'blood' from Theo taking the form of light peaked his curiosity. Under usual circumstances he only cared about pairs. Singulars made magic wonky and robbed the potential straight away, but maybe this one would have some sort of potential. But now Veronika and Theo had traded places and their delicious guild master had now arrived on the scene. Maybe this was as good of time as any to reveal himself, not commenting on how long he'd been nearby unless it came up. Strolling out of the alley, he swaggered up to the chaotic group. "There's no room for heroism within our brood, is there? Leave that to those magic council mutts, the legals," he spoke airily, glancing over Theo's remaining eye with a bit of lust. The scoop burned in his pocket, and in just a few seconds he could show these fools how to remove an eye properly...but, with Ahote here, he'd refrain. He seemed fond of the newly one-eyed man, and despite the penchant for dark guild members to have little regard for each other let alone any sort of attempted authority, Iris was at least slightly more likely to contemplate obedience before disobedience. Again, possibly playing nice to get into those p-  eyes. "However, how are we to destroy said council if we take each other out first?" mused the flighty poster boy, smiling enough to crinkle the corners of his eyes. Enough to hide the horror in the back of his mind about what these fools had done to Theo's precious orb...

[900]