Pax RP

The moment Swix laid her hand on the charm the eyes painted on it snapped open, and it stuck fast to her hand. The spirit of HollowEyes, previously trapped inside the charm, now rushed into her body, meeting little resistance, and quickly gained complete control.

HollowEyes looked around, now in the body of Swix, appearing to be momentarily dazed. He looked at her surroundings, unfamiliar to HollowEyes, and then his gaze fell upon CP, a figure who was all too familiar to him. He resisted the urge to smirk, quickly looking over his own body. Another familiar one, Swix, a faithful member of the Council. Bizarre that CP would think to use his final charm on her, and it was also a little curious to find that she was so passive to possession. Hm, if Raven were here she'd surely have some lewd remark to make about that...

Well, best not to question the gifts that fate bestowed upon him. Here he was, revived after who knows how long, in an isolated room, alone, with one of the Council's most insufferable enemies, in the body of one of it's most formidable and brutal members. It was almost too good to be true. Perhaps I should thank CP - if he weren't so pathetically predictable I'd have missed my opportunity to rid the Council of him altogether, HollowEyes thought to himself. Killing him without letting him know of the role he played in his own demise is almost regrettable... Maybe I'll cripple him first, explain it to him in great detail, and then kill him? Swix frowned, still not speaking, as HollowEyes contemplated how to do this deed. No, too time consuming, I have no idea where I am, why he's alone or how long until others arrive. Damn, even now I'm wasting time - I'll just scream at him, wring his neck and be done with it.

"SPACE FOR MY BEGINNING!" Swix shouted, moving to lunge at CP and then stopping. Wait, what was that? Downright embarrassing, that's what... Something was clearly wrong here, and HollowEyes was a little surprised at himself for not noticing it earlier. Swix was burning up, the heat that he felt through her body was too intense to be something that was normal for her, and that was not what he meant to say at all, which meant that something was also wrong with her head. Let's try again, just to be sure... "The tangerine's mother is greenly smell. Left." Hm, not even close to what I'd wanted to say.

HollowEyes tried to think of why this was going so badly while occupying Swix's body with something that seemed as unsuspicious as possible - after all, there was no need to alert CP to the effects of the charm just yet. "Trampoline high heels." She said, sitting on the floor and pulling gently at the charm on her hand. Okay, that was going to have to be good enough. Now, the way he saw it, there were three distinct possibilities:
1. He was monumentally awful at possessing people, and simply couldn't work Swix properly.
2. Swix's body has some kind of defensive mechanism against possession, and this was thwarting his attempt to control her.
3. Something was very wrong with Swix, and she would have trouble controlling herself if he gave her the chance to.

No matter which of these it was, it seemed that possessing Swix was not a good idea. In that case, the next logical course of action would be to possess CP himself, find some way to get him killed and then get another live body to possess... Wait, that order wouldn't work. ... It's too hot and crazy in here to think properly, best to act now while I have the chance and scheme later. HollowEyes decided, making Swix stand up and rush towards CP, arms outstretched in an attempt to stick the charm to him.

((Glad to see you back, 3kul. ))

"... Me?" Cp responded to Swix's accusation(?), ready to take off at a moment's notice after that whole genius slip up with the knife. How he, or Swix hadn't ended up wounded in the slightest had to be some kind of miracle. Even better, when she pulled away, (without the knife!), the demented woman hadn't grabbed for anything else. Of course, the loose paper of Holloweye's charm had stuck onto her damp palm, but really, compared to a knife, how bad could that be?

Swix now seemed a bit dazed after her outburst, so Coolpikaaa took the opportunity to weigh a couple options. Now that he more or less had an idea of where he needed to start looking, leaving her locked away somewhere was possible. He would have someone babysit her, just to be safe, and the crazy-woman would be out of his hair until he whipped up a cure and saved the day. The bar was full of people he could trust- Nym, Tala, Syllak, to name a few, and they would all be pretty capable at keeping her out of harm's way for a few hours.

Yeah, that's it. He'll just leave Swix with someone, and be done with it.

"SPACE FOR MY BEGINNING!" Swix shouted, catching CP of guard yet again. She almost looked like she had tried to lunge at him this time, but caught herself, and transferred to the stare of deep thought instead. Either she was just too insane for him to anticipate any of her movements, or Sleep had dulled the mouse to a point that should have gotten him injured a good handful of times already.

The faster he passed her off to someone else, the better.

"Hey... uhm... Swix. I'm just going to go grab someone to take care of you for a while. Do you think you'll be alrig-"

"The tangerine's mother is greenly smell."

"That's... not what I asked. See, I'm just go-"

"Left."

"Err... no. Down. Downstairs? To the bar?" he tried, hoping speaking slowly would help his words sink through. She was so much worse than he had anticipated... but that could be fixed. Getting stabbed with the needle earlier had cleared the cobwebs out of her brain, hadn't it? And that was just a needle! Perhaps a good jolt could get her up and running long enough for him to explain, grab someone to watch her, and head back. Maybe even grab a coffee or something to clear his brain! It was foolproof!

The electric mouse began to charge up a bit of electricity, while also thinking of the moral implications of what he was going to do. Swix hadn't really done anything to him this time. Was zapping her, albeit just enough to get her nerves firing, the "good guy" course of action?

Haha, what was he thinking? This was Swix he was talking about. She had smacked him around so many times that it was like her way of saying Hello. Besides she probably wouldn't even remember it.

So, as it turned out, Holloweyes in Swix's body started running towards Cp about a minute or so before he configured his little electric surprise. The sudden movement from the woman who seemed so intent with her own train of thought a minute ago had startled him, and he released a bit too early, and a bit stronger than he would have wanted. However, if she does manage to keep moving, Swix would be right on top of him, causing the mouse to be trampled, bonked with her outstretched arms, or even worse, smothered by her body if she happens to fall....

If HollowEyes was having trouble controlling Swix's body before it was nothing compared to controlling her when CP was practically frying her nervous system with his electrical attack. Swix's legs seized up, causing her forward momentum to become a lot less coordinated, and he couldn't move her arms to adjust his aim for Coolpikaaa.

Oh, this is just ridiculous. HollowEyes thought, the knowledge that he did not feel the pain that Swix was undoubtedly going to feel later not offering much consolation for this horrendously bungled attempt at murdering an old foe. Swix probably doesn't even weigh enough to crush him with her useless body, even though he's so tiny...

Swix fell in an awkward pile on Coolpikaaa, her arm not even close to sticking the charm on his body. If the jolt of electricity had done any good CP would not be able to tell; HollowEyes wasn't in a very talkative mood right now.

CP stood, mouth agape, as the shadow of Swix grew larger and larger before him. This just wasn't working out for him, today. He should have just stayed in bed...

Oh this is going to hurt. The mouse thought, before trying to actually do something about the impending situation. With a frantic dive, everyone's favorite hero under two feet tall lunged forward, planning to slide flawlessly on the smooth wood floor, right between Swix's stumbling legs. In reality, he hit the wood quite hard and succeeded in going next to no where after letting out an embarrassing squeak.

Coolpikaaa had just began to push himself up when Swix's whole weight landed on top of him. With hardcore squirming, he managed to free his head enough to breathe.

"Ahhg! Swix! GERROFF!"

Throughout all this, inside Swix's head, the woman watched this... fiasco going off.

When the charm had touched her hand she'd felt it stick, and with her previous experiences of possession had instinctively, unconsciously let them get on with it. That and she'd quite possibly been damaged by the entity who'd done it before.

And then... she couldn't move. She just stood there staring-she wanted to move, wanted to talk, wanted to tell CP what a fool he was being standing around here, but she couldn't. She frowned, but she was pretty sure that's not the expression she wanted to give right now. No, she wanted to look angry and give him a good smack on the head with her tendrils for staring at her dumbfounded after he'd been so quick to react to her doing something that wasn't actually a threat for once, see if he dealt with that any better. But... she couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't do a damn thing. At least she'd still been able to move around even though she was feeling so sick, this was almost unbearable. It was like.... like when she'd been possessed by the entity, she couldn't do anything she wanted to then either, or help it when the Collector did something she didn't want to do. It was like being a puppet, only this time it couldn't be the entity, because C always took great pleasure in letting the electric mouse know she was around. Which meant that someone or something else was doing it, and the only thing she'd touched here that she wouldn't have usually was the charm.

Come to think of it why had she touched the charm in the first place? She'd wanted to move away when she'd seen it, not grab it.

So she just waited, and watched, taking in what was going on as best she could with the heat burning through her making it difficult to concentrate, even though there wasn't all that much else she could do right now.

She thought too, as best she could when the disease wasn't cutting the train off.

She thought about what an idiot the electric rodent was if he hadn't gotten the point she was trying to make.

She thought about what an idiot she was for touching the charm in the first place, after all, HollowEyes charms were dangerous and though she hadn't really known him that well, knew the Parasitian was intelligent and highly skilled at his craft, it shouldn't come as a surprise that this one still worked even after he'd gone.

She thought that whatever had control of her body now might actually be able to... "SPACE FOR MY BEGINNING!" she yelled. Maybe not.

CP said something about getting other people up here, and interpreted the nonsense she'd said as some sort of answer, and again, in the little corner of her mind she silently called him an idiot. Yet, she was sure there was some reason she'd come here...

Then thinking became almost impossible as the temperature became almost unbearable, and all she could think of was getting a drink. Of anything. Or jumping into a lake, or a river... with rapids... or a turbulent ocean... or off a waterfall... yes... that'd do...

Whilst she was getting lost in this questionable line of thought, she sat on the floor and gently tugged at the charm on her hand-before suddenly getting up and rushing towards CP with arms outstretched.

It wasn't that that jolted her out of her feverish thoughts of riding through a refreshing flood though, it was CP's actual jolt of electricity that ran through her body and sent the familiar pain to the sick woman.

She would've yelled, but of course she couldn't. She wanted to lash out at someone, but that too was impossible. Frustrated and now in her 'right' mind, she started to struggle uselessly against whoever had taken her over. Only to stop and watch in half amazement, half amusement as the rodent managed to completely fail at avoiding her possessed body and get stuck underneath it. She should come and visit him later in the day more often. The thought and the amusement weren't quite enough to stop her from feeling smacking into the floor or the pain of landing so awkwardly though.

Maybe whoever it was would talk. Maybe. The Collector couldn't stop talking to her when she did this and frankly, they were 'sharing' her body too, it should work, surely?

'OI!' she sent, in HollowEyes direction 'Who or whatever you are, I'm going to assume that you've come out of that charm I touched, so, much as I like to see the Rat squirm there are probably a few things you should know'

Swix's voice spoke to HollowEyes via a method that he was unfamiliar with. Obviously it wasn't vocal speech, as he controlled that ability at the moment, and it wasn't mindspeak either, because he felt certain that he controlled that too, but he was still quite new to possession so it was possible that he didn't. Even so, he was no stranger to mindspeak, having communicated with his sister via that method for most of their lives...

His sister. Swix's face frowned, HollowEyes making it move in this way without thinking, for thinking of her brought back painful memories. She was truly a wretched fiend, but deep down, he could never abandon her. Coolpikaaa had the charm he'd created for himself, as expected, so then did that mean that the failsafe he'd created for her would still be intact? What if she was still alive, or what if he was still alive? No, that should not be the case, this charm should have only fallen into Coolpikaaa's hands if he had died, so he couldn't imagine this not being the case... But what of his body? If it was properly preserved, he could inhabit it once more, but that was an unlikely scenario. If he had died and Little Sister was alive, she would have devoured his corpse without hesitation, such was her uncontrollable desire to be 'whole'. If she had died with him, or had been unable to consume his dead body for some reason, well... Hopefully he'd been thorough enough in his method of dying to avoid having his remains fall into enemy hands.

... But these are all concerns best left until after the matter at hand is dealt with, he thought to himself. He had no idea where he was or how he'd come to be here, it was time to stop stumbling around blind and start getting answers. If he spoke to Swix in this manner, he felt fairly confident that nobody would overhear him - or at the very least, that Coolpikaaa would not be able to tell that he was currently controlling her.

'I'm listening...'

Swix waited for an answer from who or whatever was controlling her, feeling the pain from her awkwardly fallen body and trying to save it for later. She frowned, but again it wasn't her doing it, it was surprising how even the smallest little expression stacked up on her frustrations. She wondered whether she'd even get an answer back, because they didn't have to if they didn't want to and she couldn't do a thing about it. Except keep talking, which could end up going badly anyway.

Then she got only two words back, but even so the voice sounded very familiar, she hadn't been expecting that. Almost sounded like HollowEyes himself, but that was impossible... wasn't it? Two words was less than she'd hoped for but better than she'd feared. Well, again, there wasn't all that much else she could do.

'Well' she sent back eventually, thinking that she was sure the Parasitian the charm had come from had gone on Blackstar, so she should probably start with the major one 'this is a twin world called Ana in a realm called Pax. You're on the second floor of a tavern called The Horn and Halo in the centre of an expanding settlement of multiple species called The Encampment. There are lots of people downstairs and they've'probably heard you and me yelling and if one of the two bouncers aren't on their way up to see what all the racket is about then my-' she paused here, dare she tell him? Probably best not to... 'sister will be, and they definitely won't be at all pleased at seeing this mess. I haven't exactly been trying to make friends with the locals' she stopped, but this time not because she needed to think something over, because the heat was making it hard to concentrate. 'If you keep throwing me around like that you're going to break something I need. I do have other limbs you know, ones that are better at breaking than being broken. And I' she stopped again, because she felt really embarrassed at having to admit it, even if it was in this manner 'I'm sick, I think seriously sick. You're clearly having as much trouble talking to people as I have, and I can barely remember why I even came up here'

She seemed to have stopped talking at this point, but really she was thinking about the familiarity of the voice she'd heard and fighting to keep the train of thought going. 'If you are who you sound like there are others here' she sent eventually. If it was him, then, she figured he should understand the significance of that. If not then it didn't matter.

HollowEyes thought carefully about all that Swix had told him. Swix being ill did not surprise him too much, given how much trouble he'd had controlling her, but the rest was a lot to take in, and he was beginning to feel overwhelmed by it all. Think small, he told himself. Focus on what you need to do now, the rest can come later.

He really didn't want to admit it, but Coolpikaaa would, unfortunately, have to wait. He couldn't kill him now without better understanding the Council's situation on this new world; Swix had tried to tell him a little, but without being certain of his identity she hadn't been able to tell him enough. From what she'd said, it was clear that the locals did not support the Council, and they were in a public place that was not sympathetic to their cause, or at the very least, not sympathetic to Swix. If he acted now without thinking, he could get Swix incarcerated or killed, and make his own resurrection an impossible task to boot. Above all else, he needed to ensure that he maintained a low profile (well, low enough) until he could get a body that wasn't crippled with illness. Helping Swix could come after that.

'If you're certain that people are on their way, we can use that to our advantage.' HollowEyes felt that he'd regained enough control of Swix's body again to push off the ground and stumble to the door, so he did that quickly, making sure to try and give Coolpikaaa an 'accidental' knee in the gut as he did so just to slow the rodent down in the process (and to make himself feel slightly better about letting the Guardian live yet again). He knew that he wouldn't be able to get words out properly as Swix, but that didn't matter anymore. All he needed to do was position himself next to the door, scream as loudly as Swix could manage to make sure that whoever was coming would hurry, and get ready to hit the first person to enter with his charm...

Coolpikaaa hadn't been able to accomplish a whole lot while he was under Swix. Sure he struggled for the most part, but without his limbs free for additional leverage it hadn't been at all useful. Perhaps if he had known what was going on inside her head, or who was currently residing there, he would have zapped the woman.

Swix was still his friend though. Kinda. Their relationship was difficult to describe without starting to make up words. Here, the basis of evil and good were smacked together, and expected simply to coexist. They had to coexist, to survive. Swix was sick, and she had come to him for help. There were no more lines.

Just people.

"... Thanks." He breathed as the woman on top of him had, perhaps miraculously, begun to move. While she made her way towards the door, and he began to sit up himself, the electric mouse started to think of his next few steps. "Hey, Sw-"

The madwomans knee came forward sharply, catching him in the chest and winding the poor Pikachu. Then she began screaming at the top of her lungs.

"St- Stop... sw.." he gasped, unable to catch his breath. If she kept this up, the whole bar was going to come running!

Swix got the words back, of how they could use the others coming up to their advantage. Now she was more sure, it definitely sounded like the Parasitian, even though it still rang as almost impossible-and it sounded like he had more of a plan too. Probably better, because she couldn't think all that well right now. Even though she didn't usually think much herself when she was, well, doing her thing to Pax. 'Yes I'm sure' she sent, unnecessarily, but she knew of most of the people who worked here well enough to know that they would be coming.

Controlled by HollowEyes Swix got up, finally, and stumbled over to the door as quickly as he could make her. Did... he just knee the electric rodent? Probably an accident, although he could deal with it she was sure. Wouldn't be the first time she'd smacked him for something. Quite frankly she'd been wanting to smack him for a while anyway, and he'd said thanks when she'd moved-he oughtta know by now she hated that.

Then they were at the door, and she was screaming at the top of her kungs. Which with Swix, although she was pretty short for a humanoid at only 5'2 and not all that well built, turned out to be pretty loud. That was bound to attract someone's attention, they were going to be running up here if they weren't already at the top of the stairs as it was....

<hr />

The person that was running up the stairs now two at a time wasn't any of the bouncers-Syllak and Tala were having too much trouble with the patrons who'd been infected with whatever Swix had to be able to come up here, but Swix's sister, Nym, had heard the yelling and only just now managed to push past the throng and get a booted foot on the stairs. The younger of the two humanoids sprinted up the stairs as best she could, her own light grey dress was just over her ankle height now so she didn't get tangled up in the material this time. Nym looked very alike Swix, yet at the same time there were many differences. Her hair had the same colour, but it was straight and cut short just below her ears. Her dress too was different not just in it's colour but also in the fact it wasn't torn, and her boots were a lot lighter, though still flat heeled. The two of them preferred being able to get around.

"What the...?" Nym said, stopping just beyond the door to stare at the mess and the winded electric mouse on the floor with concern. "CP&#33; What's going on? What's she done now? Why's she screaming like that?&#33;" the more grey woman said, before she shook her head to snap herself out of it and stepped through the door to go and see what had happened to CP, then she could deal with her family member... only to be smacked on the side of the neck by the currently HollowEyes controlled Swix, who had been waiting behind the door, with the hand that had the charm stuck to it.

((Sorry, this seems kinda too short but, it's early and ironically I actually feel quite hot and ill myself right now XD))

Another female humanoid... Not exactly what HollowEyes was looking for, but beggars couldn't be choosers and he needed a body that wasn't mentally crippled by disease. Nym, unlike Swix, was not as oddly disposed to being possessed, but fortunately he was still able to gain control without too much difficulty. "Let's go." Nym said, dragging Swix out the door and slamming it behind her.

"We don't have time or many options; speed is that rodent's strong suit," Nym spoke swiftly in HollowEyes' straight-to-business manner, trying to drag Swix down the stairs without making her fall. "And it seems there's a chance you could lose yourself again, so I'll give you some quick options and you have less than a minute to decide."

"One; we get to the Corrupted Cave immediately, have some of the science folk look you over. Two; I create a makeshift charm, draw your soul out of your body, place it into your sister's body, which does not appear to be affected by any illness at the present time, then at least we'll have time to figure things out - if you've lost your mind again I'm going to go with this option as my default." They reached the bottom of the stairs to find that the bar was in a state of chaos. HollowEyes, still in Nym's body, was now not entirely sure where to go - dragging her through the crowd of crazies didn't seem like an ideal move, but what else could they do? "... Three; we go back upstairs, beat CP until he cures you or points us towards somebody who can."

He hated the thought of having to go back to CP for assistance of any kind, even when it was going to be requested in the most violent manner imaginable, but he had to admit that waking up in a completely different part of the multiverse after being unconscious for so long put him at a pretty significant disadvantage.

((Sorry for the long wait and the short post, let me know if I got anything wrong or if I'm assuming too much by gaining control over Nym so easily.

EDIT: Made a quick correction after a PM from Swix ))

Swix just stood there blinking after HollowEyes Charm left her hand to stick to Nyms neck, until Nym grabbed her that is, causing Swix to yell "Gah&#33;" in surprise as she was dragged out of the door, and feel even more surprised that the exclamation came out as intended. Swix was mostly pulled by, but partly stumbled after, her sister down the stairs and somehow didn't fall flat. Oh she had to catch herself a few times on the rail with one arm only to be tugged further downwards by the one HollowEyes had grabbed, but she managed not to fall and drag them both to the floor.

She could also hear through the haze of heat and sickness Nym talking in a very different way to the way she would normally talk. Not surprising really considering Nym was experiencing what she'd just gone through.

She was being given options-and she had to decide quickly. Swix shook her head at the first one offered, managing to get damp hair in her eyes and flailing to clear it so she could at least see.

The second one, the woman blinked and stared at the back of Nym's head before they reached the bottom of the stairs and that time she almost did fall over as her knees gave way at the sudden lack of downward momentum. But she managed to catch herself and stand up once they entered the edge of the giggling crowd of maniacs. Why, why did he have to ask her the one thing she probably should think about? Draw her soul out of her body? That could either have consequences... or none at all. She didn't truly know, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

The third one was something that sounded mildly appealing but she really didn't feel like getting shocked again. Besides, the rodent already had some of her blood and knowing what she did of him he'd be after finding a cure to this illness anyway. After he'd gotten his
breath back.

Probably.

"Urrggh" she said, sounding more exhausted than anything else as she held a hand up to her pounding head. "I really don't think you should safe... leaving your... physical presence without this... curse" ES's eye twitched as the disease took hold again. So close but so far away&#33; "Demons bless that&#33;" she exclaimed, looking angrier than she had before, Swix pointed towards the doors of The Horn and Halo "Inside entrance not here" she said, looked more frustrated than ever and took hold of the possessed Nyms wrist that had been dragging her around until now, to try and drag her sister through the crowd and out of the door whilst she was still lucid enough to at least do that.

Coolpikaaa winced as Swix tackled Nym from behind the door, doubled over from the pain in his ribs. Before he could even wheeze out a warning, or an answer to any question, Nym had straightened out and dragged a limp Swix away. If it wouldn't cause him more pain, he could laugh at the insanity of it.

Pushing aside an odd since of nostalgia, the electric mouse struggled to his feet. Nym had closed the door on her way out, and being only just over a foot tall didn't leave him with the best reach. How had he literally never run into this problem before?

Bits of scorched wood rocketed into the hall, leaving a sparking Pikachu visible to the absolute nobody left upstairs. He was falling behind, and whatever game the Swix sisters were up to was played fast. With the occasional pang from his side, Coolpikaaa entered the hall, and hobbled as quickly as he could to the stairs, catching snippets of voices on the way.

Corrupted Cave? Charms? ...beating CP?

The electric mouse stopped, stunned.

Now that conclusion was impossible. He was dead. Like really dead, years ago even&#33; If this had been sooner, it might have been an unlikely stretch, but...

CP hopped down the stairs, moving even slower as he tried to wrap his mind around what he had honestly begun to consider. It was silly. It was insane. It was...

"Holloweyes...?"

Nym's eyes narrowed as HollowEyes heard his name being called, but he didn't turn her head to face Coolpikaaa. That damned Guardian rat had good ears, he had to credit him that much, to be able to hear enough details from their brief conversation through the noise of an exploding door to guess at the true identity now controlling Nym. At the very least, HollowEyes thought, he could deny him the confirmation he no doubt craved; leaving him to wonder and doubt the possibilities would be far more beneficial.

So HollowEyes allowed Swix to drag Nym through the bar, as she hadn't made it clear which option she intended to choose but seemed to have something in mind. He had no idea where she was taking him, and unfortunately it looked like the disease was taking hold. HollowEyes had no idea where he should go once they got outside, and with Coolpikaaa hot on their tail he wasn't sure that they'd be able to last long.

Worst case scenario, he'd need to switch bodies again once they got outside, and he may even need to split up with Swix in order to ditch the persistent do-gooder. He knew that he could count on Nym to keep her safe, but as a host for his spirit Nym was too high profile, just like Swix; he needed something less obvious, something that didn't stand out so much, and preferably something that could outrun Coolpikaaa in a pinch. Grabbing some meat from a partly-eaten dinner on one of the tables Swix dragged him past just before they reached the door, HollowEyes began to formulate his emergency escape plan just in case Swix fell prey to her disease again too quickly.

((In case you're wondering, yes, HE's actions and thoughts are a lot more erratic than usual, and his plans are all over the place for a good reason - he's experiencing some pretty serious time/space lag here, after all&#33; ))

This was going surprisingly well, Swix considered as she dragged an unresistant Nym through the crowd of gigglers towards the door-until CP blew up the door upstairs that is, which did cause her to jump and look back reflexively. Well, her and all the other patrons that were not currently engaged in some sort of bizarre behaviour. When she looked back, she said "Two" rather loudly. Perhaps a bit too loudly, as she looked rather surprised at her own exclamation and pulled Nym harder.

The woman stumbled out into the open of the settlement and walked as she looked for something. "Ah hah&#33;" she exclaimed, and then made her way over to a house that didn't look any different to the others outwardly, other than having it's door wide open. Which she pulled the HollowEyes controlled Nym through before letting go of her hand.

"There's a trapdoor around here somewhere... " she muttered, looking at the floor. Wait, did that come out right? It did, didn't it? When she found the right spot to kneel next to, she pulled open a trapdoor in the floor that had been hidden under a rug. "This is a cave system Furnace has been digging ever since he got here. It's like a maze if you don't know where you're going" she said and continued quickly whilst she could still talk properly "it's great for quick getaways, especially if there's someone chasing you... and Furnace isn't likely to be too happy if he smells electric rodent down there" She finished the sentences looking both surprised and relieved she'd actually managed to get it all out. She leant against the wall to breathe as the heat once again became almost unbearable and exhaustion finally caught up with her.

((Edited for continuity))
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Meanwhile, inside Nyms head, the younger of the humanoids had gone from being terrified out of her wits to being in a state of calm confusion. Losing control of herself happened to be one of the things Nym feared above all else, even above her terror of ice and fire. After feeling like she wanted to scream when the Parasitians spirit had gained control of her, Nym had instead become increasingly confused at her involuntary actions. First she was dragging Swix down the stairs, then Swix was dragging her, and after what Nym had just done to her she wasn't getting a mouthful from her relation? Instead she was talking about caves and charms and beating CP up???
What was going on here? Why was everyone acting so strangely? Why was she acting so strangely?

It couldn't be them, she couldn't hear them... She hoped.