Have Yourself a Very Crimson Christmas

Jent · #31

Having learned thoroughly of Pax's history since his stay in the realm, Drausus immediately recognized the Red Dragon. Eyes furrowed, the Jentil stood guard in anticipation of an attack from the behemoth. ~Au'Marui. Do you see there?~ a mental relay directed at the God of Insanity, not wanting this 'Red' entity to become aware of their thoughts. ~Those five woman... My guess is them being shattered consciousness of the original. Each Representing a stage of grief...~

Drausus lightly winced, faintly reminded of another gathering of five that occurred earlier in the month. An contrasting image to who appeared dominant to their antagonist.

~... 'Acceptance' seems to be nearly faded away. I'll try to maintain their composition in the mindscape if you can handle the brute.~

#32

Ariel nodded, then looked closer....

~Somethings off...the Red I know would have attacked something by now. Definitely sustain all the personality shards, but lets take a closer look before we decide on a course of action regarding Ole' Red~

#33

The ocean of frustration that covered everything here was slowly but surely sucked into Zerexe as she attempted to draw it in and siphon it. Here much like herself there was an endless wellspring, but it did lower the surface by quite a bit and pull down the tidal wave.

Meanwhile, the hiding and most faded aspect meeped around a corner, the heroic one kept trying to get Reds attention and failing, the second most faded of them. The exact middle one trying to impress continued well, trying to impress, the weeping one weeped, the second least faded of them all and the frustrated one just stared at them.

That is, until Red instructed the complimentary aspect to do some destruction to the city-which she promptly did, tossing buildings and murdering people with wild abandon whilst Red laughed in glee at it all.

The frustrated one flew up to them and then spoke. Every understandable word that came out of her mouth was followed almost immediately by a randomised bird noise that, if one could understand the language of the birds, had absolutely nothing to do with what she was actually saying.

"Why (rooster) are (seagull) you (goose) here? (canary) Who (duck) are (wild parrot) you? (emu)"

Jent · #34

Being adept at the mind, Drausus stepped forward to the frustrated aspect. "We are here to help you," the Jentil answered, flicking a wrist behind himself whilst he talked to keep her distracted. "I can sense your mind is at disarray, parts fading away."

The Distortionist had cast himself a mental thread behind himself. Said string slithered in the ground, attempting to make contact with the fifth aspect and restore her first.

#35

"It's not in disarray! It's annoying! Every time I try to talk nothing but gibberish comes out! I can't even understand myself!" There they were again, entirely random bird noises no matter what she said.

The most faded and scared one that was hiding quite sensibly from the Dragon and the others noticed the string coming closer and backed away from that too, eyes wide.

Meanwhile, above, the oceans wellspring of frustration only grew.

#36

Ariel ignored the frustrated aspect, believing she was but a symptom of a larger problem. Instead she "hovered" down closer to the scene. Something was not adding up to the goddess, but she couldn't quiet place what was going on here. Hopefully by getting closer she'd notice some detail without invoking the dragon's ire...

#37

As Ariel approached, she'd notice one thing once she got close enough. Well, two really-and she probably wouldn't like it. They definitely weren't very good things at all. One, was this world and everything in it seemed to be made of paint. It was done so masterfully it was indistinguishable from the real London from far away, but the the tiniest details showed flaws of the citys creation. The place had been painted into existence.

And number two, was that the Red in the bird lady's head that they were in right now, currently had a hold of the Reality Altering Paintbrush.

Jent · #38

"Still, your language area is clearly damaged," Drausus interjected, fortunate that none of the hostile actors are interfering with his process thus far. "The mind is my specialty. I can help you recover."

Aware of the terrified expression, a diminutive simulacrum of the Distortionist appeared on the line's end. Crouched down, the smaller figure attempted to mitigate any threatening display. ~Do not shriek. Do not worry... You are fading, can you not tell? Let me give you my strength... Please.~ a kind voice relayed from the tiny Jentil to her.

#39

"It's not damaged! It was changed!" The frustrated aspect yelled at Drausus, frustrated with the entire situation as a whole.

Meanwhile, the most faded and terrified one stared at the tiny Drausus on a string and swallowed. "I-I-I-I'm n-n-not s-s-s-strong enough" she stuttered, but nonetheless moved over to the small man.

Jent · #40

"... Then it can be changed back. If you just let me help," Drausus argued. Of course the frustrated aspect would be difficult to convince. Though she seems stable enough, given the circumstances, and not fading faster from the rants.

The simulacrum faintly smiled. "Alone you are not. That is why you need to stick together," he kept his offered hand out. As soon she touched it, the Jentil's mental energy stored in the clone would diffuse and stabilize her.

#41

Ariel quickly jumped back to where Drausus was, manifesting a paintbrush of her own.

"Drausus - I think this woman is from that cursed painting - but I think that *is* the real Red over there. What's more, he has a paintbrush."

As she spoke, her words were slowed, but for the most part steady. Manifesting her paintbrush powers in this mind was going to be taxing...

#42

"How?! How could you possibly change me back?!" The frustrated one argued before she caught sight of Ariels paintbrush. "You" she pointed "you STAY AWAY FROM ME WITH THAT THING!" she yelled before flying back down.

On the ground however, the terrified but faded aspect swallowed, looked around, and then took the mini Drausus hand.

At that point everything changed. As Drausus mental energy worked to stabilise the aspect, the entirety of the mindscape and the mind itself that they were in began to crack all around them. The ocean, the ground, the buildings, the people-even Red-all began to crack and split apart save for the aspects of the woman herself.

Jent · #43

Before the Jentil could properly address her, Drausus took notice at what Ariel planned to do-as well the reaction from the shrieking aspect. ~If that is the real Red, then he is cracking apart much like the rest of this world,~ he relayed to the Goddess, kicking himself up in the air to float from the damaged ground.

~Zerexe, the world is breaking!~

#44

Even as they spoke, the cracks grew and expanded, constricting the pieces in between. However, if one looked closely one could see there was... something... behind the cracks. This mind was far from truly breaking.

That and the faded 'Aspects' levels of fade were beginning to shift in the opposite direction

#45

Zerexe stopped to stare at the events unfolding. She had no real idea what to do about this. She was there to help with the rage and frustration mostly, and asd a boost to someone if they needed it. The woman let out a shout, pushing herself atop the ocean she had been teying to take in so she could observe it, aiming to sit on the surface of it directly.