Fantasy DIFFERENT BODIES ⋮ SAME SOUL | ( *starboob && syntra )

[Syntra]

Frankly, Inna would have loved to draw a thick fucking line between her past and current self. The two didn't need to know one another, you see? Because the information that the Past Inna had gathered only hurt the Current Inna, and that struck her as a shitty fucking deal. Fate or whoever was in charge of the shitshow called 'Inna Orlovskaya's Life' was obviously more than qualified to fuck her up on its own, so like, no need to support it in its noble fucking endeavors! Therefore, in the Ideal WorldTM, she would have wiped her own memories via some arcane mind trick and started working as a barista, or something. Yup, seemed comfy enough! (An alarming number of coffee shop romance fanfics had baristas as their protagonists, too, which may have had something to do with Inna's choice as well. Just, coffee and gfs, you know? Sweet, sweet gfs who didn't fucking try to murder you! Generally, anyway. With her brand of luck, on the other hand? The blonde was convinced the coffee shop would somehow turn into a battlefield in some fucking war of gangs-- her not-gf would be involved, too, and probably stab her in the stomach for trying to serve coffee to her opponents as well. That, ladies and gentlemen, would be exactly the sort of plot twist that wouldn't look out of place in Inna's non-existent CV!)

Except that, nope, she wouldn't even get that-- mostly because it was hard to draw anything, least of all a straight line, with her claws this long. Just, try holding a crayon when your hands looked like this! They just hadn't been manufactured with demons in mind, mate. (Yet another case of the terrible discrimination her kind faced daily, for no other reason than that they looked different from all those boring, vanilla-ass humans. ...well, that, and maybe also because all of the murders, but honestly, who cared? Humans bred faster than rats, anyway, so Inna sincerely doubted they'd even notice a single child missing. Like, when one went poof, they had three more to take their fucking place! Why the drama, then? 'Hurrr durrr, each human being is an irreplaceable ray of sunshine?' As someone who knew a lot of humans, she could tell you right here and there that that was a steaming pile of bullshit.)

So, yeah. With her dumbass fucking body refusing to go back to the human mode, Inna didn't have a lot of options-- like, maybe she could get away with it on Halloween, but that was an excuse for one day and she kinda needed to exist for the remaining 364 days as well. Thankfully, however? The demon queen proved to be surprisingly forgiving, especially when she promised to prove her loyalty with deeds. (Deeds of, uh, diverse nature-- killing people and shit, that went without question, but also serving her in a more personal way. Uh huh, it was exactly what you thought! Technically, the queen had granted her her own chambers, though Inna couldn't really remember ever waking up in her own bed, and... yeah, she was her bitch now, the blonde guessed. Which, yay! Wasn't that what she'd always wanted? A ~spicy~ romantic adventure with all those delicious power imbalances and supernatural drama and... and Liora as her love interest, not this chick with her weird, unpronounceable name. Like, how did you even scream such a word in bed? Awkward, awkward, awkward! Inna had had to come up with dozens of nicknames, each more embarrassing than the one before it.)

Yeah, let's focus on that aspect of the whole debacle-- not on some stupid, stupid part of her still wanting Liora 'Murdered Her Best Friend and Wasn't Even Sorry' Trihn. (Just, had she run out of self-respect? The woman had killed her, for god's sake! She'd killed her, and lied about it, and would probably kill her again if the worms she had for brains collectively decided that she was """too dangerous to live.""" ...a good thing that they'd be right about that, though. Inna was fucking dangerous, you see, and now she'd prove to Liora just how much that was true. Especially since her powers had blossomed under E-keysmash's loving guidance! Fire eternal burned under her skin now, and never, never would she look back-- to those times when a different, more naive version of herself had been stupid enough to think that she and Liora could have something real. And why should it bother her, anyway? That she could never have a normal relationship may have been true, but she had become a living flamethrower, which was the superior outcome. Like, could love destroy your enemies? No, it fucking couldn't! One more point in favor of the flamethrower, really.)

So, Oktoberfest! A great fucking opportunity for taking her mind off Liora-- cooking all those people alive was pretty attention-consuming, after all. (Hehe, consuming. You see what she did there? Considering that the demon queen had told her to consume them, to strengthen her soul or some shit. Something about her potentially being able to open some apocalyptic gate, if she remembered correctly? Honestly, Inna didn't really care! What mattered to her was that human flesh was delicious, and that the smell sang to her so, so sweetly. Ahh, just a few more bites!)

Naturally, that was when Liora emerged out of nowhere. Great, just great. Did she have, like, a fucking radar that told her whenever she was having too much fun? 'Cause she had been having a great day before the bitch had showed up. "What part of 'I never want to see you again' did you not fucking understand?" Inna frowned before snapping her fingers, and effortlessly setting some civilian rando on fire. (The man screamed in agony, and that sound? That was a symphony to her ears, too.) "So, what are you doing here? Came to kill me again, love? Just a warning, though-- it won't be as fucking simple this time around."

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

The carnage that surrounds this would be celebration of beer doesn't startle Liora. It's not that she's seen worse––even working for the mafia they never succeeded in creating a scene that rivals something out of an over the top Hollywood movie––it's just that she's more surprised to discover that Inna is at the center of all this chaos. Maybe she should have guessed she'd see her kind-of-ex the second she smelled ash and smoke, being that her former colleague is exceptionally great at lighting shit on fire and these past few months seem to have only improved her accuracy (re: random civilian on fire at the snap of her fingers; color Liora impressed, but she won't say anything about that. That would be, how do you say... pathetic). It also makes sense why the Mistress wouldn't be able to vanquish this terrible, terrible evil from the Earth since she revealed not too long ago her magic talents only extend to mind tricks. Still, why does it have to be fucking Inna at the center of all this? They're supposed to be fighting demons together––not turning into one so that she, Liora, alone has to fight her.

Her brows knit together as she looks at Inna––

Inna, who has apparently developed a taste for... those giant fucking turkey legs they always sell at fairs and shit. Definitely not the other possibility that Liora will not even entertain. (How did this even happen? Even thinking back on their last encounter she just doesn't understand how it went from something so nurturing to... to this. She doesn't necessarily put it past the blonde to go demonic or anything like that––that's, shockingly (if you don't know Liora), not even her concern. (If anything, she wants to know if Inna is okay. She looks fine, you know, once you see past all those bioluminescent cracks, horns, claws, other demonic body modification, etc.) What continues to put her in a headspin is that the cursed fucking relationship they tried to start all turned into Inna hating her for something... something she supposes she did do, she's somewhat come to accept that after several arguments with Declan, but she still doesn't understand why she did it. She just wishes the reason were more solvable, because she has no idea how or if she can even get her friend back––more than anything else she misses Inna's companionship. Even if she is Liora and she won't give up so easily on this seemingly impossible goal, it does seem so fucking hopeless and she just isn't ready to mourn just yet.)

At the question, Liora doesn't even flinch despite the implication that her former friend thinks she's still out to kill her. No, she merely sheaths her weapon and crosses her arms over her chest. (Obviously, putting Declan away is more a show than anything else––just like Inna she's magic too and the snap of her fingers can conjure creatures that would kill the blonde for her. Not that she's even thinking of doing that, but the thought that she at least has some defenses is comforting if Inna does decide to attack her––which almost seems like an inevitability at this point.) "I didn't come here on purpose," which is extremely true. She tried to resist! "But you fucking know how this bullshit works; shit starts to hit the fan and bam here I am," she wants to say here we are but those days... Those days are dead and buried. Not even Vie can resurrect that (because apparently Liora cannot fully resurrect spirits hence having to morph them into creatures of her making).

"Just, what are you doing here though, Inna? I mean, I know you hate fucking Germany, but this seems like a lot of effort for someone who hates work." She'd like to believe that the blonde just got pissed off because someone tried to screw her over on her pretzel stick and thus that warranted burning this place to the ground and consuming the rest of the fair's turkey legs. Somehow something tells her this isn't Inna enacting some petty revenge; perhaps it's the dark energy swirling up above and the familiar feeling of a nearby hells gate. (It being petty revenge would be too fucking simple and the fucking universe has decided that, actually, Liora's back is strong enough to carry the weight of the fucking world, the moon, the fucking sun, and perhaps all those other shitty planets as well as the fucking asteroid belt because why the fuck not! Catching breaks is just not for Liora, so she has to fucking endure.) "Honestly, I thought you would have fucked off to Croatia or some shit."

Despite Liora's overwhelmly cool air on the outside, internally she might as well be sounding every single fucking alarm bell. She doesn't know how she's going to handle this and it's a lot to see Inna at all, but like this? This just reminds her that she pushed Inna to this place with her stupid fucking past. (She should have let Inna blow her brains out in the mansion, to be honest. At least in that scenario she'd be dead and not here.) "I'm not here to fucking kill you––but I will stop you," she says as her eyes glow. No thanks to Inna, the spirits here are fresh and guiding them towards her, convincing them she can give them purpose again is not difficult in their still confused state. She also reaches for the spirits who lie deep below the earth, leftover from wars and strife long forgotten by the living, but Liora remembers each of them and she calls them forward from the ground. Though before she would have gone for creating one large creature, she's since learned how to create multiple smaller ones––each of these resembles something like a pile of sentient sludge; though that's just to make them pliable and more difficult to hit (after all, how can you land hits on something that can pull its own body apart to avoid attacks?). "I won't hurt you, Inna," she whispers both to herself and her small army of creations––because none will harm the blonde. Demonic Inna or not, Liora won't hurt her! (Not again. Never again.)

Still, the monsters do charge forward all the same––it's hard to know their intentions after all.

 

[Syntra]

Excuses, excuses, just a bunch of excuses! Of fucking course Liora would serve her those-- just like poison, really, except that served on a pretty silver platter so that she'd be more likely to take the bait. You know what the issue with that plan was, though? That Inna wasn't stupid. (Pattern recognition was a thing, you see, and so you couldn't expect to be able to pull off the same tricks forever. Like, yeah, the blonde might turn around when you shouted 'watch out' and gesticulated wildly at something that stood behind her for the first time, but when you used that opportunity to put a bullet in her fucking head? She wouldn't repeat the same mistake again! ...mostly because this was a shitty fucking metaphor, since she'd be, you know, dead. Still, Inna refused to dedicate more than 5% of her brain capacity to inventing metaphors, so like, tough luck! Stop complaining about free shit.)

"Oh, right. I'm sure you went on a fucking leisurely stroll and just ended up in the middle of carnage! Happens to me all the time," Inna nodded sagely, and snapped her claws. (The sound it made? Wouldn't be out of place in a horror movie, really. Going demonic certainly had its advantages, if you gave it a chance-- not only the convenient power surge, but also looking stylish as fuck 24/7. Just, hahaha! Make-up manufacturers would fucking cry with envy if they saw how much more glowing her skin had become, and with no treatments at all. Now, when you compared the cost of all those expensive ~serums~ to eating people, the latter was honestly a more reasonable choice.) "And, hmmm, let me think about it. Do I want to share my plans with a bitch who will use the info against me, or do I like, not want to do that? A tough fucking choice, indeed! Tell me what I should think, Liora, because you're obviously always right." Even when, you know, determining how Inna should react to her own fucking murder. How beautiful it must have been, living your life unencumbered with concepts such as 'self-awareness' or 'basic goddamn empathy!' "Well? What does your arcane fucking wisdom tell you?" And is it the same wisdom that advised you to kill me, too? (Because, while Inna would have loved to say she'd gotten over it already, it just fucking continued to hurt-- as if the ghost of the sword that had ended up in her stomach was still there, only invisible. ...she could feel it, both its steely bite and the bitter, bitter disappointment. Shock as well, really. Ivy had been innocent, you know? Of that, at least, she was certain, because the aftertaste of betrayal was so fucking intense of her tongue. Like biting into a chilli pepper, and your entire mouth suddenly being on fire!)

Naturally, Liora then proceeded to switch into her superhero mode. 'Hurrr durrr, I will not hurt you, but I will stop you!' Okay, that sounded acceptable in theory, Inna guessed, but how, pray tell, was she going to achieve that fucking outcome? Via instructing her zombies to act like Disney animal companions? Again, that could potentially work, but Liora had forgotten about a crucial detail-- namely, that the blonde wasn't going to hold back. Not anymore! And pacifism only really worked when both sides agreed to follow the principles, believe it or not.

Letting out an ear-splitting scream, Inna commanded the flames to rise-- and, oh, rise they did, in all their white hot glory. In no time at all, they devoured what remained of the festival! ...and, soon enough, the former duo found themselves surrounded by them. They kept getting closer and closer, too, like a pack of hungry wolves that had become convinced of their victory, and... whoosh. Yes, whoosh. There was a gust of wind, strong enough to be classified as a fucking hurricane, actually-- a large shadow covered the sun afterwards, too, looming and so, so ominous. Huh? That... wasn't her, was she? Like, wind had bowed to her wind as well, because obviously, there wasn't a better person to obey, but she wasn't calling upon it now. Curious, Inna looked up, and... "My queen," she whispered. Which, indeed, was true! E-keysmash herself, seated on top of Liora's fucking hydra. (What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck!!! This was supposed to be a routine job, but the queen never bothered to show her pretty face unless she was dealing with a certified Big Fucking Mess. So, what the hell was going on here?) The behemoth landed next to Inna, causing the ground to shake. That wasn't all that happened, though! No, not at all. What caught her attention, moreso than the vibrations, was the fact that Liora's spirits got, uhhh... absorbed? By the hydra-ass thing. It just opened its big fucking mouth and straight up ate them! "As incompetent as ever, I see," the queen smiled cruelly. "Parlor tricks, that's all what you're good for! But I am still happy that you came, my dear Liora. Overjoyed, even. That was why I told Inna to play the bait here, you know?"

"...what the fuck?" Inna raised her voice. (Yeah, yeah, they'd talked of disposing of Liora eventually, but this... this was too fucking soon. The blonde hadn't even crushed her ambitions and dreams yet, which was the only reason behind her hesitation!)

"Oh, Innushka, don't worry. I just didn't want the information to get transmitted over that pesky, pesky psychic link of yours. We needed to catch her... hmm, unaware. This glorious pyre you've built for her? It would have been such a terrible shame if she had just ghosted you. No, I think you deserve a greater reward for your efforts." Two arms of mud emerged from the earth then, and each caught Liora by one leg. "What do you think will happen to you now, little one?" the queen smirked.

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Eye for an eye; life for a life; yeah, it makes sense and it even seems fair (see, Liora can be reasonable), but that Inna wants this hurts and it hurts in a way she doesn’t think that it should. Not because she’s Liora and above all semblance of normal emotional responses, but because it just cements that the wedge between herself and Inna is permanent. Whatever bond they’d once shared has been effectively severed centuries ago by Vie’s hand. Somewhere she knew this, because, duh, how the fuck do you even forgive a betrayal of this magnitude? To hell if the young sorceress knows. But she does know that had their roles been reversed... she likely would never forgive Inna. (Which is another reason why she doesn’t understand why her past self bothered to ensure they’d reincarnate at all. This isn’t some fucking love story where everything magically works out and it becomes some peachy fucking keen paradise. No, this is fucking reality and reality has never given Liora a happy fucking ending.) Nevermind the fact that she can pretty much tell Inna is never going to forgive her for this or ever return to her usual self based on what she fucking says. Her biting remarks, even if nothing in comparison to some of her more colorful insults, tears into her like hungry wolves. Coming from the blonde's lips it just feels like a curse––she's not even saying anything particularly cruel, but the taunt just tells her she's idiot who has always been wrong. From her first life to this one.

None of that, however, is to say that Liora is giving up. She may be burying her hope that Inna will ever go un-demonic, but she isn’t going to give up on stopping her. At least not since she’s here—like why give Inna that satisfaction? No version of Liora would let herself be humiliated so easily and so what if flames have erupted around them? So what if the Demon Queen has made her glorious entrance on the back of Liora’s creation? She doesn’t even let that surprise her—maybe later she’ll debrief over all of this later but it just seems not worth her while to be shocked. But perhaps she’s just too numbed out to care, because Jesus fucking Christ does the air feel so fucking suffocating around Inna and she doesn’t really want to be here AND she also doesn’t fucking want to leave! ‘Pick a fucking struggle, bitch...’

Well, it also seems like the choice has been made for her thanks to E-Keysmash’s miracle-grow hands from the ground. ‘Christ... really?’

Does she struggle against these new bonds? Not really. Or if she is, she’s doing a great job of hiding it. (‘Inna and the Demon Queen, Inna and the Demon Queen, Inna and the Demon Queen,’ her brain practically snaps itself in two trying to not think about this.) Liora swallows the lump in her throat, takes a deep breath, and looks up at the queen, “Don’t you have anything better to do? Or do you just like hearing the sound of your own fucking voice?” Seriously, it seems like you either become a fucking professor of a fucking villain if you love talking all the goddamn time. (And honestly? What’s the fucking difference?) "You besting me isn't even that fucking shocking––like whoop-de-fucking-doo, we get it, you're the fucking queen. Just get on with it, bitch," she rolls her eyes.

Alright, but enough of that because she really should try and figure out these hands bruising into her calves. She doesn’t think it’s wise to try morphing anymore spirits since that will only act as fodder for Hydrangea (unofficially what she’s decided to name the hydra)—which is unfortunate because it’s what she’s practiced most other than... ‘Hmm.’

Blink and you might think Liora was never held down by those disgusting mud arms, because one second she’s being held down and the next she’s several yards behind the demonic duo. Teleportation, bitches! (Why she doesn’t just eject herself from the situation? The reason may or may not be connected to a certain demonic blonde and apparently her own desire to shoot herself in the foot. The world potentially ending if she leaves is not even the reason she stays behind––in fact, that reason doesn't even have a position on her list of reasons for not blipping out of the reaches of these two.)

She lands softly on the ground, quietly drawing Declan from her hip. As if taking a golfer's swing, she arcs her sword upwards and splits a crack beneath the earth, opening a gate that would have the pair falling somewhere into the Pacific Ocean. She figures that's not really a big deal, but at least it possibly buys her more time. And if it does work? Well, then she can go back to the Mistress and tell her to fuck off sending her to face her former fucking friend. (She'll also lodged Declan into some stone so some unfortunate bitch can think they're royalty for freeing it.)

 

[Syntra]

"Tsk, tsk," the queen reprimanded her, a mockery of stern expression on her face. "What an ungrateful little bitch you are, Liora. Knowing that I shouldn't have to waste my time with worms, shouldn't you be thankful to me for arriving? For ensuring you'll get a memorable death? That horrible mother of yours has never managed to teach you any manners." 'Or anything else,' her eyes said, cold and cruel. "But perhaps it wasn't really her fault? I mean, there's only so much one can do-- you cannot sculpt a beautiful statue out of pile of shit." (Which, what, what, what!!! Inna may not have known what the fuck was going on here, but she did, in fact, know that E-keysmash shouldn't fucking be talking that way to Liora. Nobody should! Nobody but her, that was, because she had earned the privilege of pouring salt into her not-ex's wounds. No, seriously. It taken years and years of careful analysis to determine where her fucking weak spots were, dammit, and then this... this bitch came along and acted as if all of her insecurities were written on her goddamn forehead. A total degradation of Inna's efforts, in other words! And since her expending any effort at all was about as rare as a cop growing a conscience, she was pissed, okay. So fucking pissed that insults were threatening to burn their way through her throat, and--)

"Hmmm?" E-keysmash turned to the blonde, looking way more amused than she had any right to be. "What is it, Inna? Do I sense any... insubordination here?"

"What? Me? Pffft," Inna chuckled, waving her hand. That way, she looked casual and not at all nervous, right? Right? Please, please, let her mask not show any cracks! (...the details were still fresh in her memory, you see. Fresh and searing, with its tendrils wrapped around her brain. Her hands had been bound, so tightly, and her legs as well-- her lips had been bruised, too, from how much she'd bit them. 'You don't like to scream, do you?' the queen asked, her voice as smooth as honey. 'But, my dearest Inna, you will. Only through agony can you cleanse yourself from all the filthy, filthy things you said! Make sure to thank me, alright? Since I am helping you to become the best version of yourself.' 'Fuck you,' Inna spat out, struggling against the chains. Only a little bit, she could tell, and the metal would break! Afterwards, she would-- she would-- 'Hmmm, I don't think so,' E-keysmash smirked. With her hands, she then grabbed a swirling swarm of something from the pile that had gathered at her feet-- something distinctly insectoid, because, even in the darkness, Inna could hear the flapping of the wings. The flapping of the wings and the buzzing, too! You know how annoying a single mosquito could be as it flew near your ear, right? Well, multiply it hundred times, and you'd get the level of intensity Inna was dealing with here, roughly. The sound burrowed itself into her fucking brain, like a giant drill, which... Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. What exactly was she hoping to do with them?! 'So far, my dear Inna, you've only taken, taken and taken. Don't you think it's time to give something back? To your sisters at least, who love you so? You know, since you've never given anything to your other sister.' ...and, yeah, the blonde did scream, alright. She fucking choked on it, even if she knew not whether it was because of that remark, or the way they split her stomach open, so, so hungry, and--)

"Like, why? Do you think I'm some fucking Liora rights activist? Wouldn't piss on her if she was on fire, honestly."

"Good," the queen patted her head. "My sweet, sweet Inna! See? I told you we'd learn to understand one another, if given enough time." Did she even care that Liora freed herself? It was hard to tell, really, because the bitch didn't even bother to look in her general direction-- instead, she pulled Inna up, and seated her next to herself on the hydra. And, considering the level of effortlessness she got that done? One might assume the blonde weighed no more than a rag doll might! "You know what to do, right?" she whispered in her ear, and Inna shivered. (What was it? Fear? Excitement? Damn her if she could tell.) "Take back what is rightfully yours, my dear. That way, you shall finally be worthy of me. You shall sit beside me on my throne," which, fuck yeah, "and I'm sure I can... hmm, think of other rewards as well. Since you've been such a good, good girl recently." An even bigger fuck yeah! Lately, she'd been a bit frustrated, mostly because the queen turned out to be quite fucking selfish-- it had been just her, her, and her, over and over, so this was music to her ears. (...Inna did know what she meant, of course. They'd discussed it, over and over, and it made total sense. Still, now when she actually stood before the choice? It felt... different, somewhat, than painting an Imaginary Scenario of Revenge #234. More real, or something like that. Well, what's the fucking problem with that? You want to rip her heart out of her fucking chest, don't you? It being real is a goddamn plus!)

There was, of course, very little time to ponder over it. Liora may have created one of her fancy gates, yeah, but they happened to be riding a fucking hydra-- so, haha, sucks to suck, bitch! Instead of getting caught by the portal, they flew over it. Fucking duh. Like what, had Liora thought they'd let themselves get teleported to Bumfuck Nowhere solely to make her smile that pretty smile of hers? Dream on, love.

E-keysmash landed on the ground then, with all the elegance of a cat, and caught caught Liora's arms in her steely grip. Effortlessly, she spread them open, and held them in place-- the position kinda made her look like one of those cheesy angel statues Inna had always lowkey resented, which only encouraged her to fucking do it. "Now, Inna. Take it! Make it yours."

The fiery wings sprouted from her back once again, and before she could realize what was happening? The blonde landed in front of Liora. Softly, her left hand was glowing-- with the same blue-ish hue that also colored the cracks in her skin, really. "I did fucking say never," Inna stated as her lips curled up in a smirk. "And that, Liora..." she sank her claw into her chest, only to pull out a golden, shining thread, "includes that link of ours." The last connection of theirs. The last thing that belonged to them and them only, no matter how you looked at it. Concentrated purity! (...something terribly, terribly ill-suited for the filthy creature she'd become.) So, the natural course of action here? To fucking snap it in half! ...which was exactly what she did, and with a smile gracing her lips, too. Finally, Liora was nothing to her.

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉​

Blah, blah, blah, something about worms because apparently the queen bitch has a fetish for them or something. Liora cannot be assed to care about the insults hurled her way. Three months ago, back at the cathedral, that had worked but that had been a fucking different version of herself. One that cared about appearing strong and why would she even care about that now? Who is she even trying to prove herself to? Not herself, that’s for sure. Not her mother either. Trying to prove herself to the queen bitch might have appealed to her at one point, but... well, she can’t say it doesn’t bother her what she’s saying, but at certain point? If insults are swords, then Liora is stuck full of them and there just isn’t anymore room on her goddamn body for any more. It’s like armor now, in that regard, so maybe she should be thankful for all the protection that her mother gave her, because no one wounds like a mother.

“Oh, great so you’re omnipresent now? What else do you want to tell me that I don’t already know, you little twat?” Liora rolls her eyes as if the comments roll just as easily off her shoulders. (The swords in her are armor from new wounds, but that doesn’t mean they still can’t be twisted. Liora’s ability to hold it together has everything to do with her stubborn reluctance to react appropriately to her emotions. Of course, that just means her hurt manifests in different ways.) Though the comment about being omnipresent is a mere hope, because if she’s not? That means someone fucking told her about her complicated relationship with her mother, who she does love and also hates, and the only people who really know that? Herself, Sol, and Inna. If there is a maker, she prays to whoever that is that it isn’t Inna who told the demon queen about her nonexistent childhood wounds. But already she’s decided to never let anyone close to her again—not that she really let Inna that far in in the first place, but it’s clear she did herself a disservice regardless. Because whether E-keysmash found this information on her own or whether Inna opened her big fucking mouth, she realizes it had been a weak choice all along. And Liora Trihn? No, Liora Rodríguez? Fuck, no, not her either... Just fucking Liora? She won’t make herself weaker than she already fucking is.

Caught in the bitch queen’s grasp, she doesn’t make any attempt to struggle. The grip around her wrists is so fucking searing she can’t even concentrate enough to teleport herself away, so she somewhat hangs in her grasp, adjusting just a bit to take some of the tension away from her shoulders though that’s a waste of her efforts, too. While Inna stands right in front of her, she doesn’t look directly at her. She finds other points to focus on like the corner of her jaw, the tip of her ear, one of her eyebrows—anything except for looking at her in her fucking face. ‘I hope this tastes fucking sweet for you, asshole,’ she thinks, not allowing any emotion to cross her features because she won’t give Inna that benefit. Never again.

So when she dips her glow-in-the-dark hand into her chest? Well, Liora half expects to feel the pressure of a hand piercing her but she doesn’t. It’s as if the hand inside of her chest is passing through a mere membrane—it’s uncomfortable and not unbearable. As the demon pulls out the golden thread from her chest, she has half a mind to think that it could be her lifeline but she also doesn’t think Inna would give her a peaceful death; so if it is, she imagines this must be a merciless way to go—but then Inna clarifies that this is their link. One first spun in their former life that transcended death and bound them together in this life. She knows what’s coming before it even happens.

Fine. “If you want this so fucking bad—-“

“Do it,” she hisses, negating the scream inside of her that cannot accept this is happening. Negating the roiling in her stomach that seems to travel and spread through the rest of her body. This stir of emotions almost threatens to shake her, but she stills herself as the thread is snapped and she’s almost fucking thankful. Because now she doesn’t have any reason to hold onto the blonde any longer; she can move the fuck on and bury that mistake of hell like it never existed in the fucking first place. (The feeling of her chest caving? She ignores that.)

Finally, her coal colored eyes meet Inna’s and they burn hotter than the goddamn sun. “Hope you’re fucking satisfied,” she spits. She then pulls her knees up to her chest and then pushes her legs out to kick the demon in front of her, using the leverage of the demon behind her. This gives the woman enough time to gather her strength and once again teleport out of the demon queen’s hands. Once free, she calls Declan into her hands and begins to cut portals into the air around her—creating gates that not only stretch across Earth but openings to other dimensions as well (though not the demon realm, she is careful about that).

‘Liora, what are you doing? You’re going to destabilize the space time continuum and—-‘

‘Yeah, making this place blow up is the fucking point, Declan. I know what I’m doing,’ she thinks as she continues her strikes. Maybe Inna will get hurt if she does this, but then that would be a side effect to her plan and would really just show that the bitch queen has no idea how to protect her subjects. ‘Or her fucking pets.’

 

[Syntra]

Imagine that you had a dog. He may have been a needy bastard, sure, but you'd gotten used to him, and learned to see all the morning walks as a cute little ritual to strengthen your friendship rather than, you know, one of the leading reasons to get rid of him. Somewhere along the line, he had become a part of your life-- kinda like morning coffee, or bitching about Mondays. With insidiousness specific to their kind, the dog had found a shortcut into your heart and now it fucking lived there, totally rent-free.

Got the mental image? Fine, good job. Step number 2: imagine it fucking died. Step number 3: imagine you fucking killed it, because you were a bloodthirsty bitch who couldn't help herself. (To be fair, he had bitten you in the past, but you know what? That had been ages ago. He had probably gone to therapy to deal with his dumbass anger issues since then, and wagged his tail happily whenever he saw you, and... and learned how to be your home, in case you wanted that sort of thing. Which, mind you, you really wanted! Or had wanted, before you remembered the biting incident had, indeed, occurred. ...naturally, that was when you'd drawn your fucking knife.) Okay, processed all of that? Now imagine that it wasn't a dog, actually, but Liora-- a woman who may or may not have been the Love of Your LifeTM. (The 'of your life' was a little dramatic as far as pre-modifiers went, but Inna did feel justified in using it. Nobody had ever made her feel that way before, you see? The whole fucking thing had been built on lies, of course, but that didn't really change anything. The way her heart had raced in her presence had been real, as well as the desire to claim her lips, and those stupid fantasies of domestic life with that had flooded her mind, like, immediately. ...had they been sleeping somewhere in her fucking unconsciousness, just waiting to be released? Come to think of it, had they even been hers, or Ivy's? And was there any meaningful difference between the two? Anyway, even if the blonde knew fuck all about this, she was reasonably sure this was some type of love. Yet, despite that, Inna had severed the link! ...or maybe exactly because of that, since keeping it alive when Liora cared this little for her would fucking kill her.)

(Not that this wouldn't kill her, of course. It would, oh, it fucking would, as surely as a bullet in her brain, but it would be... well, a more familiar kind of death, she guessed. A safe fucking territory. At least the poison coursing through her veins wouldn't taste sweet, you know? It would be cold and bitter and acidic, which were flavors Inna knew how to handle. Years of developing unhealthy coping mechanisms had prepared her for that, at least! They hadn't really prepared her for the gaping, open wound in her chest, but you could never really be 100% ready for the moment shit hit the fan, anyway. Nope, it had always been you vs. the thoughtless, uncaring randomness. Blah blah blah, adapt or die! ...plus, this made her feel as if she had some sort of agency in this mess, if nothing else. Being complicit in your own destruction wasn't, uhhh, ideal, but what was new? Stop the presses, Inna Orlovskaya's life fucking sucked!)

Liora then, of course, proceeded to prove that every single ugly thought she'd ever had about her had been entirely correct. Like, could she stop trying to kill her for five fucking minutes, at least? 'Cause, newsflash, bitch-- the blonde hadn't even attempted that yet. E-keysmash had held Liora for her, so it would have been as easy as cracking a fucking egg, but nope! Inna Dumbass Orlovskaya had resorted to just severing the link, because that was what had hurt her the most. This... this connection they had had, tying her to the person who had twisted the knife in all of her wounds. (Liora, though? To Liora, her very existence seemed to be a fucking affront. Sorry then, bitch, for having the nerve to breathe! ...maybe she should just crawl into a coffin and let the queen bury her. Wouldn't everyone be happier that way? Finally, she'd get some fucking peace from this grand fucking destiny she hadn't asked for, and--)

'Don't, Inna,' Haenel whispered and jumped into her hand. Immediately, its blade caught fire-- fire so bright, actually, the the queen had to shield her eyes. 'Why would you think that, even? Isn't taking your vengeance... hmm, so much more fun?' (The fox had changed, to the point that Inna wasn't sure whether she recognized her anymore. The flames that surrounded her were dark now, though that wasn't the main difference-- no, what was the most striking thing about the transformation was the way she talked to her now, with her honey-ed voice straight up seeping into her brain.) 'You have so much power now. We have so much power now! Bathe in it, and make the bitch repent for her crimes. Nobody hurts you and lives, love.'

Inna's eyes flashed dangerously then, and she barely noticed it when the wind picked her up-- so attuned was she to the elements now, really, that it took no conscious effort at all. "Liora!" she shouted, the strength of it almost tearing her throat. "If you fucking want to kill me, then stop fucking around and do it. Come the fuck on. I want you to try!" ...and if she wouldn't, then the blonde would make her. This stupid feud of theirs ended today, dammit! So, with zero regard for the portals, Inna lunged at Liora, her sword shining bright.

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Swish. Her sword continues to sing through the air, tearing holes into the fabric of the Universe itself with each haphazard strike––she doesn't necessarily care about the where these portals open to, because it'll only take so many before all these tears try to correct themselves. And when that happens, she doesn't plan on sticking around––she doubts the demon queen or her little bitch will want to either; it would be a danger to that little hydra of theirs anyway. But is that Liora's goal? Just to chase them away? It doesn't seem nearly ambitious enough for her or as thought out, but given that she hadn't known the trap she was walking into until she saw the blonde feasting on corpses, this is perhaps the best she could come up with. Especially as she simultaneously mourns the loss of their link, their precious bond that set them apart from any other pair.

(Now that it's not there, she recognizes its intensity––or how intense it must have been. Somehow she feels lighter without it, but that lightness is not the kind that frees her. It's the kind that disorients her and fucks with her center of balance. She wonders, too, if she had always somewhere known of this link. When she was a little girl, playing with her dolls, did she ever feel a pull towards something greater? Someone greater? Could she always sense that, even an ocean a part, there was someone out there for her? Is that what encouraged her to uproot her life so suddenly? To join Chett's crime organization, knowing, somewhere within herself, that there was someone there she was supposed to meet? Or was it all just coincidence and good timing that her life, her plans for grandeur, all happened to collapse around her and force her to think in extremes to prove her own worth? She doesn't know and these questions don't help her sift through any of her hurt. Yeah, she told Inna to do it, in a way that gave her permission, but she knows she only did that out of her own anguish and disbelief. She never meant it––she never would have asked for this. Even if she hadn't used their link over these months, she still could feel its gentle hum and with that she at least knew Inna was alive. Now she'll only have her hopes to keep her alive.)

Lost in her thoughts and ignoring the monster wrapping its claws so tightly around her heart she doesn't know how to breathe, she nearly misses that Inna has decided to interrupt her. 'Stupid! Idiot, you never take your eyes off your opponent,' she chastises, sidestepping just at the last minute to avoid Haenel, whose flame is as bright as it is dark. Shit. That's probably not a great sign and Declan all but confirms that when she screeches in Liora's head. 'Super helpful, Declan. Are you also part of the kill Liora fan club?'

'Don't be ridiculous, Liora. If I were, you would already be dead––I was just surprised, is all. It's been a while since the dark side of our personality has shown through and if I'm being honest, youngling, I don't think you can win this.'

Cool. Just the vote of confidence that Liora needs, but... ugh, she doesn't think the owl is wrong either. Besides, what would it even mean to win this fight? She's not trying to kill Inna and with the demon so intent on fighting her, she doesn't think this will end in just pain. If she wants to survive this, if she wants Inna to survive––and more than anything that is what she wants––she has to eject herself. Who cares if she'll be marked a coward, at least she'll be fucking alive (they both will be). "Inna––stop, this is dangerous," she warns, trying to communicate to her former friend to not engage with her, to back away, because Liora is also not going to stop what she has already started.

She ducks away, daring to take her attention away from Inna to finish this. She raises her sword high above her head and then plunges Declan deep into the earth below. Bright light, brighter than all the stars combined, starts to shoot out from the fissures surrounding her sword. The fissures turn into violent cracks, stretching rapidly across the entire festival grounds; the ground below howls and shakes. In that same moment the portals surrounding them all start to glitch, opening and closing in an erratic manner as the threads of time try to mend this hiccup. Each of the portals starts to close in on themselves and for a moment, the fair grounds look as if they have only been destroyed by Inna's fire; it almost appears normal like Liora's plan hadn't worked at all. ('As if, bitch.')

Of course, that's when the portals, all at once, reopen and explode outwardly––the entire landscape around them is swallowed by light so hot it melts before it burns. Before it purifies.

 

[Syntra]

Well, duh. It was supposed to be dangerous, you know? In fact, Inna would say that was the entire motherfucking point! Rarely did it happen, after all, that people engaged in a fucking sword fight with the idea of it turning into a tea party midway. Just, nope. The second the blonde had drawn her blade? That was a death sentence, alright. Here, among the charred remains of the stupid beer celebration, someone was going to die! (...somewhere, in the depths of her heart, she had always known it to be true. The resentment she had once held for Liora had been a pretty damn good preview of that-- a flash forward, or maybe a flashback, depending on the angle you viewed it from. Either way, Inna + Liora = a fucking corpse. The blonde had always kinda sucked at maths, but this seemed to be a constant, you know? The one result they always arrived to, again and again and again, no matter what. Well, okay, then. If this was a ~sacred tradition~, who was she to judge? A fresh corpse was exactly what she'd deliver! ...and, no, she didn't fucking care whose corpse it would be. Liora dying would be good, for obvious reasons, but her dying would be even better, so like, this was the ideal fucking set-up, actually. A true win-win scenario.) "Yeah?" she smirked. "What's next fucking valuable lesson you're gonna teach me, huh? That fire is hot and water is wet? Thanks, professor Liora."

('Yes,' Haenel roared in her ear. 'Yes, yes, yes! Show the bitch what the price of betraying you is. Come on, Inna. Together, we can do great things.' Nevermind that she had never fucking wanted to do great things, right? Before all of this, Inna's biggest goal had been stuffing more than three oranges in her mouth at once, and-- 'Don't be dumb,' Haenel reprimanded. 'Don't you realize, child, how much better you'll feel? Once you've drunk her blood, that was. Power is happiness, as well as defeating your enemies. They've never taught you properly, my dear, dear Inna, but I will. Oh, I will!' And, with that? Inna's eyes turned anthracite black, as Haenel pushed her to the side.'Let me show you what kind of power we can wield, if we just dare to grasp it. Plus, don't you think it will be easier? If I dispose of that wretched woman for you. I mean, you can mourn her and everything, and you won't even have to feel guilty!')

...which, yeah, Inna had to admit it did sound appealing-- too bad that it wasn't going to happen, though. Kinda hard to kill your target when literally everything around you exploded, you see? The blonde didn't, mostly because her vision was drowning in fire. (There was this immense pressure on her chest, too. A funny thing to worry about when you'd be torn apart in a few seconds, wasn't it? But it did seem important, somehow-- especially since it felt like a ghostly fucking hand entered her chest, and yanked her forward. Forward, forward, and forward! Colors danced behind her eyelids, as if a kaleidoscope had been installed there, and... and...)

Whoosh. Suddenly, the blonde found herself standing in the throne room, as if nothing had happened at all! E-keysmash was sitting on her precious overpriced chair, too, and regarded her with... hmmm. What was it? Surely not pride, that much Inna could tell at least, but she hadn't seen that shade of disappointment on her face yet. From behind, two pairs of hands pressed down on her shoulders-- 'kneel,' the gesture said, 'or there will be consequences.' And Inna? Without hesitation, Inna did exactly that. (Better not to provoke a fucking dragon, right? It had never, ever been worth it in the past.)

"Inna," the queen finally said, her voice hard like steel, "I expected much, much more from you. I cannot believe that, after months of training, you didn't manage to finish her off. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I..." I what? 'I am a dumbass who still can't fucking bring herself to do it?' Something told Inna that wasn't the kind of response the queen would appreciate! "I got distracted, is all. I... I mean, breaking the link was pretty fucking intense."

"Hmmm, hmmm," E-keysmash smirked, in this infuriating way that implied million different things at once. "I can imagine. For that, I applaud you. It must have been a big step, for a demon this young and inexperienced. However, my dear Inna, if you are to sit beside me one day, you need to be better than this. You need to understand consequences, too. So, I'm thinking you'll need to give more of yourself to your sisters! What do you think?"

"...yes, my queen. Gladly."

"Good. Sharing is caring. And remember, Innushka-- this is your fault. You brought it on yourself."

***

"Liora. Liora, how do you feel?" As always, the Mistress was wearing her mask-- her mask that was somehow totally shit at concealing her emotions, because concern was radiating from the woman. (That wasn't only reflected in the way she spoke, though. Oh no! The older sorceress had also brought her some hot cocoa, without delegating the task to one of her maids. Wow, wow, wow. Perhaps Liora was dying? Because the Mistress had never soiled her hands with such a menial job before. Gently, she set the tray on her bedside table, and sat next to her protege.)

"You shouldn't be this careless," she reprimanded her. "Do you realize how dangerous that stunt of yours was? Without Declan, we wouldn't have been able to get you out of there, you know. Mighty Liora, killed by her own portals! Is that how you want to go down in history? But," her expression softened somewhat, "please, don't think I'm criticizing you. I just wish for you to take care of yourself better, my child. I won't always be there to ensure a stray demon won't claim your life." The Mistress sighed, wistfully, as if that was a scenario she had experienced far, far more often than she would have liked. "I suppose you don't want to listen to an old woman's ramblings now, however. So, again. How do you feel? I... understand this must be difficult for you." 'This,' of course, being the loss of her link. "I'm sorry it turned out that way, Liora. Is there anything I can do for you, perhaps?"

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

"C'mon, c'mon," the woman mumbles as her sword shatters this small piece of earth and invites more chaos than there had been before. However, Liora's gaze is not fixed on Declan, but Inna because Inna is her fucking weakness––she meant that when she said it and it still holds fucking true. She squints her eyes as light envelops her line of sight, still trying to make out the silhouette of the other woman and refusing to leave until she knows what the other woman's fate is––or maybe trying to stay long enough so she can make some last minute rescue if need be, because if no one else will protect her then Liora will. That is her promise and Liora, while she is many things, does not break her promises. Even if it's pointless to save a demon, that demon is still Inna, she knows it, and for long as there is that thread of her still shining through that monstrous fucking mask, Liora won't give up on her. Believing in her is the least she can do after letting herself believe the worst already.

As time ticks on and their reunion point continues to be swallowed by all these miniature supernovas, her sword buzzes in her hand, but she ignores it as she tries to cover her eyes as more light, more fire stretches through the festival. If she is on fire, she doesn't feel it. If she is dying, she does not recognize it. Her breath is caught somewhere in her throat as she pushes deeper into the flames trying to figure out what has happened to the other––once she knows with absolute certainty, she will leave. She just needs to... She just needs to...

Threads of a different light begin to surround Liora and while she tries to bat them away, even threatens to cut through them, they move with such urgency that before she even fully registers what is happening she is back in the Mistress's villa, in the chambers she has been granted. (Thankfully, not the same room as the last time she had stayed at this mansion.)

She drops Declan, as if she has no strength left in her to carry the sword. Unceremoniously, she also collapses onto her knees as she places a hand over her chest, where that glowing talon had dipped into her and severed... No, she can't think about that. 'Be thankful she fucking did that. You couldn't, because you were too fucking weak. So be fucking thankful,' she tries to remind herself, despite tears threatening to well in her eyes. She wipes them away hurriedly, though more come in to replace the ones erased. Soon, they streak down her cheeks, but she ignores them––ignores the fact that she's crying for what must be the first time in a literal decade, if not longer. To distract herself from what is not happening, she begins to pack up the few belongings she brought with her to the Mistress's villa. Because, yeah, fuck this shit––she's done being the Universe's errand girl. (Especially if it's going to mean facing Inna––since they're now diametrically opposed to one another.)

The fews things she had gathered from Sol's apartment that had belonged to Inna? She tosses those into some random dimension, because there is no point in hurting herself with all these little reminders of that woman. Wishing for her to come back won't make it so, she's not a stupid little girl who still believes in the magic of the stars. She's grown ass fucking woman who knows better. (Who knows that fairytale endings only exist in fairytale settings and the last she checked? This is about as far from a fairytale as you can fucking get!) Her eyes continue to water against her will, even as she tries to hold her breath and make them disappear, but they only come back to her more violently and shake her body, as if she were a leaf in the wind. 'Get it the fuck together Liora. Stop being such a fucking baby just because you didn't get what you fucking wanted. Boo-fucking-who. Life goes on.' Except that pep talk doesn't really work.

Nothing really seems to work to stop all this shit from twisting through her. It's so overwhelmingly visceral that, once again, Liora thinks that her emotions are trying to kill her. Packing her belongings only takes a few minutes, given she didn't have much to begin with, so once she has her bag propped by the door she flops backwards onto the bed, with her legs hanging off the side and her hands covering her face.

She's just about to devolve into another bought of hysterics when the Mistress comes in; Liora doesn't even have the spoons to be annoyed so she just slides her hands up over her face and knots her fingers into her hair with a sigh. She sits up and avoids looking at the older woman. Though she does pick up on the other's concern for her, she doesn't let it linger, maybe because she doesn't care. And why would she? Worms don't care if the sun notices them, because they're fucking worms and nothing that happens to them fucking matters. They're just squishy, shit eating abominations.

Liora clasps her hands together in her lap and distracts herself by focusing and unfocusing her vision. (Something she used to do a lot growing up during her mother's endless diatribes against her. Sometimes it helped her to feel removed from the situation. It doesn't really have that effect now, but it is something to do.) "I had it under control," she mumbles, though she lacks her usual defensiveness because maybe she does know she would have died had they not all intervened and saved her sorry pathetic ass.

However, when the Mistress clarifies that she is not trying to criticise her? Well, Liora remains skeptical of that, but it does seem to help her let go of the tension she had been carrying. Her shoulders drop and she reaches for the cocoa. (She remembers, vividly, how her mother used to bring her cocoa after their fights––and for as long as her mug had something in it, she found her mother's gentleness. It made all those bitter remarks worth it, in some twisted way. Some way where she could convince herself they could have more of these moments if she just tried harder.) "I'm not a great fucking wizard––I'll be lucky if my name appears as a fucking footnote. I just... How can I even outmatch the Demon Queen? I didn't really have other options and I knew that would probably get her to step off, you know?" Ah, so it had been desperation that influenced her plan.

While she doesn't really want to talk about what happened, her hand still automatically goes towards her chest and those pesky fucking tears start to obscure her vision once more. She sips on her drink as if that will hide the obvious; the chocolate, at least, does something to cover the bitter taste in her mouth. "She... She fucking hates me," she admits, finally saying the words out loud and no longer holding them prisoner inside of herself. "I don't blame her, but... it just really fucking sunk in that she only wants me dead. Life for a life, you know, so it's fair... I just. Can't believe that this is happening. That it's happened. I thought... Whatever, it doesn't matter. I was a fucking idiot and I almost got myself killed," she sighs, staring down into her mug before taking another sip. "But, you don't need to worry about me, anymore. I'm fucking done with this shit. I'm not good at it, I'm years behind on training because I didn't go to fucking Hogwarts," 'or Luna Nova,' "and the person I was supposed to do this with has decided to join the other side. So what's the fucking point? This prophecy fucked up and I'm not going to try just to fail."

After a moment of silence, she shyly looks towards the older sorceress. "Do you know if she made it?" she asks, feeling pathetic for wanting to know because she knows she shouldn't care about her anymore, but it's eating her alive.

 

[Syntra]

The Mistress looked at Liora, oh so sadly-- it almost, almost seemed as if she wanted to reach out and caress her hair, but changed her mind at the last moment. (Boundaries and shit, probably. Her protege was notoriously prickly, after all, so approaching her in this way might have done more harm than good.) "Liora, my child. Do you not believe in destiny?" she asked in this kind, quiet voice. (It flowed like a river, calm and steady, and it was just so easy to get lost in it. You could listen to it to ages, probably, without it ever getting old.) "Because destiny has marked you for this task. It is difficult, I imagine, but it is true. You and only you can do it, now that Inna has... well... you know." You know what, exactly? Died? Fallen? Perhaps, to the older sorceress, the two concepts were one and the same, for the blonde was lost regardless. "Seems insurmountable, doesn't it? But that is a mere illusion, child. The Creator knows best. When she burdened your shoulders with the weight of your fate, she made sure that you'd be able to carry it first. The demon queen is formidable, yes, but all monarchs can be dethroned. Such is the nature of their position. You may not be aware of how to do it now, but in time? You'll grow into your role, just like seeds grow into trees. The seed has always been a tree, Liora-- it had no choice but to become one, and that is true for you as well. You shall find your path to greatness, eventually. Don't you think you've made some pretty dramatic progress already? Mere months ago, you were but a fledgling. Now, you soar the skies on your own. Who knows just where you will be standing tomorrow? It may not seem like that to you, but," gently, she touched Liora's forehead, "you have Vie's memories to guide you. Well, not memories per se, but something like muscle memory? Yes, you may choose to interpret it like that. That link is the reason why you grow so fast, child. I have studied magic for the entirety of my life, and yet you have surpassed me already. Does that not mean anything to you?"

When the conversation inevitably turned to Inna, however, the older woman sighed. "I am sorry, Liora, for failing you. I knew, you see? About your history, and your connection to Ivy and Vie. About everything, in truth. Now I see that I should have done something to prevent this. I thought not interfering would be the best approach, but clearly, I was wrong. I believe I do carry some responsibility here-- Fate has placed you two in my care, after all, and I was unable to save Inna. For that, I apologize. But," she said, looking her directly in the eye, "she is not dead. She is not dead, and so the link of prophecy hasn't been severed. I also do not think that everything has been lost. Seeds and trees, Liora. What holds true for you is true for her as well, even if perhaps there is a twist to this particular prophecy." The Mistress paused, apparently deep in thought-- she was weighing every word carefully, that much was certain. What kind of message was she hoping to convey, though?

"Maybe this was supposed to happen. Inna joining the other side, I mean. With the demon queen, she'll have... hmmm, new avenues unlocked. Under her guidance, she shall learn things she wouldn't have picked up anywhere else. Who is to say that this isn't exactly what the world needs? Her new allegiance is a problem, of course, though I don't think that needs to be a permanent thing." Underneath her mask, the Mistress smiled mysteriously. "Inna is hurt, Liora. Very much so. Her new powers aren't making it better, either, because demons run on anger. She has embraced that side of her fully, and that is why she cannot move on. I don't believe she truly wants you dead, you see? It is her demonic nature that is preventing her from reaching forgiveness now, I think. You, though. You, Liora, don't face such issues. Both halves of you exist in perfect harmony, just the way it is supposed to be. The solution is obvious here, isn't it?" The sorceress let her question hang in the air, probably so that Liora could grasp all those fun, fun implications at her own pace. Naturally, however, she then proceeded to clarify. The important details couldn't stay unshared, now could they? Not when so, so much depended on them.

"Steal her powers, Liora," the Mistress whispered before scooting closer. (Suddenly, the room felt smaller-- too small for the two of them, at any rate, for the sorceress' aura became overwhelming. Suffocating, even, as if smoke filled her lungs instead of the air.) "For her own good. You can handle them in a way Inna cannot! She's a darling, but... hmmm, a bit volatile, perhaps. The recent events confirmed it, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Do it, and the veil shall be lifted from her eyes. She'll have a chance to recover, at least. Don't you think you owe it to her? Because it is true that you pushed her over the edge. I know you didn't mean it that way, child," the Mistress added quickly, "but actions have consequences. Sadly, those consequences do not always align with our intents. I'm not judging you, for that is one of the greatest tragedies of our existence, but if you want to do right by your friend... well, that is the route to that outcome. The only one that I can see, anyway. Or are you aware of a better way?" the older woman raised her eyebrow. "One that wouldn't involve spilling her blood, that is."

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Obviously, quitting would have been too easy and Liora has never been given the easy way out (and rarely has she ever let herself take such pathways). It's still an enticing option and the entire time the Mistress continues her little speech the woman looks between her packed bag near the door and the mug of cocoa in her hand. She can choose to be alone or she can choose to have the Mistress and all her subordinates by her side. Nevermind that she doesn't necessarily feel part of the Mistress's fold––perhaps because she does not have that dorky fucking outfit they all wear––but maybe she had just been resistant before. If she thinks about it, she really only entertained the offer to stay at the villa because she needed something to do and with no other ideas––returning to a normal human existence seemed out of the question at the time––training under her wing seemed the best option for her. (That it also reminded her of Inna is beside the point. Magic, after all, had been one of the first things to bring them together. In both their lives, too. Aside from their now severed link, their shared split-demonic heritage, and a prophecy. Still, being that they discovered this all together and even fumbled through their first several tries is enough for Liora to associate this gift she has with Inna. Though now, especially after today, it feels like festered open wound.) Should she choose to stay, perhaps she can give the Mistress a more honest piece of herself and truly feel part of this––the idea feels nice, given how alone she has felt since Inna's departure.

With the Mistress's encouragement, slowly her resolve to runaway melts. It still lingers in the back of her mind as an option, and perhaps later tonight she will act on these desires, but the older woman's sound logic seems to resonate with the younger sorceress. Her admission that Liora has already surpassed her, as well, certainly helps her glow and feeds that hungry animal inside of herself; the one starved of validation. She may never feel as though she is good enough, but this small affirmation sings louder than it should––an orchestra instead of a lullaby. Despite the bubbles inside of her, she does not let that show outwardly in case they are popped in the next instance, as so often happens with her. "No offense, but the demon queen is stronger than both of us, so... I dunno, thanks for the vote of confidence but have you ever even faced her? She knows all of your secrets, all your insecurities, and just throws them right back in your face––it's like she's made of fear or nightmares," and she very well could be, for all Liora knows. There are so many different types of demons as she has learned through her combined studies with Declan and the Mistress. "I just don't know if I'll ever catch up to her, muscle memory or not."

She finishes her mug and places it back on the nightstand and then sends herself backwards onto the bed once again. Her arms are splayed out above her head as she stares at made-up patterns in the folds of the canopy above her bed. (She is getting better at seeing things that are not there, also known as using her imagination.) When the Mistress starts talking about Inna, she sits up halfway, propping herself on her elbows as she looks intently at the other. Something flashes in Liora's eye for a minute, but it's hard to distinguish whether it's anger or irritation––not that there is a meaningful difference to the dark haired woman. Though she seems to calm with the confirmation that Inna is still alive. "Maybe she'd be here with us instead of with the demon queen if you had fucking done your job better––" she's cut off as the older woman continues her explanation and read of the situation.

Liora considers this for a moment. She can admit that Inna seems to have blossomed under the demon queen's guidance––whatever lessons she has been getting seem to be light years beyond what she's gotten (which vaguely does have her questioning her own allegiance). However, she's never been an accurate judge of her own abilities so it's entirely possible Inna isn't progressing faster than her at all. She isn't able to entertain those thoughts for much longer as new information continues to tumble from those masked lips, filled with so many implications that she doesn't even know which one to start unpacking first. "You believe there is hope for her?" and, maybe, then hope for both of them too? She misses Inna more than she cares to admit, and she imagines it must be obvious to everyone else given that she has refused to talk about her since arriving here. (Sol heard only an nth more than anyone else and that had only been because she was who she saw right after this shitshow had started.)

Then the Mistress suggests the most interesting thing.

'Steal her powers,' the woman thinks to herself, eyes widening at the suggestion. The suggestion, while something she has never thought of on her own, feels familiar to her in a way that she cannot describe. Her brow knits together as she looks at the Mistress through her mask, feeling the need to back away from her as her head starts to fog––perhaps the implication of what needs to be done is having such an effect on her. While she isn't opposed to the idea, or at least the general principle of stealing someone else's powers, taking Inna's? For some reason that addition doesn't mix well with the initial thought. "I..." confusion easily makes a painting on her face, unsure of whether or not to latch onto this idea and bring it to fruition. "That... you're sure it will bring her back?" Because if nothing else, Liora is concerned for Inna––it was difficult to tell how she was fairing under the demon queen's thumb. In all honesty, she seemed... fine.

"What if she doesn't want that?" because she can only imagine that turning Inna back, on top of taking her powers, would only upset the blonde more if she isn't a willing participant. "And if I can take her powers, can I give them back? I mean, I want her back more than anything else, but if this shit is permanent... I just don't see her being happy about that." As much as Liora doesn't mind these means to make herself stronger, she doesn't know that she would want to keep Inna's powers for herself. Not if she is trying to make amends with the other woman. However, her resolve seems to break a little as she stews in this longer––the idea that it's either this or letting Inna kill her (because she sure as shit won't let herself spill the blonde's blood twice) seems motivation enough to at least consider it. "But, say this is the only option... H-how would I even do that?" (Somewhere, deep within herself, she knows exactly how to do this.)

 

[Syntra]

"Of course she doesn't want that," the Mistress scoffed, as if she was explaining to a particularly stupid child that 1 + 1 was, indeed, 2. That impression was only fleeting, however-- a stone that disturbed the surface of a pond, only to fall to the bottom and be forgotten about immediately. "But, Liora, people often don't know what's good for them. How can you expect Inna to know, with this dark presence in her mind? Right now, your friend is just... not herself. No, she's a parody of herself. An ominous shadow. Don't you think she'll appreciate returning back to normal? Not now, perhaps, but when she regains her clarity? Do it for her, and Inna will thank you. Of that, at least, I am certain." When Liora asked whether her powers could be returned, however? The Mistress chuckled, in this strangely fond way. "Liora, Liora. I wonder, have you always been this selfless? Because, I assure you, there are those that would kill for your friend's powers." Such as, you know, suspicious sorceresses that never took off their suspicious masks. Just a funny observation! "Nevermind, though. Yes, that which can be stolen can also be returned. You shouldn't return them in full, as she clearly cannot handle them, but the part that wasn't contaminated by the demonic influence should be safe for her to wield. Worry not-- I shall teach you how to transfer her powers back to her. First, however," the Mistress smiled, "first, you need to obtain them."

"And as for how to pull that off?" Once again, the older sorceress leaned closer-- there was this impression that, perhaps, she was going to whisper secrets in her ears. "Multiple paths lead to that goal, child. Not all of them should be followed, however. The easiest solutions are the most tempting ones, yes, but they are also the ones most likely to turn into ashes the moment you touch them. Want a small example? Killing her would work," the Mistress said, oh so casually, "for when that happens, the power leaves the body on its own. Wiping her memories would work as well! If you don't wish to act with such a heavy hand, though... well, there is an artifact. An important one. Have you ever heard of the Myaensa, Liora? In the language of old, it means--"

***

"Myae... what?" Inna stared at the queen, incredulous. She was, of course, kneeling-- E-keysmash apparently thought it an affront that people might want to use their knees for something other than ~showing their motherfucking respect~, so, you know. When in Rome and shit! "Is this, like, some fucking tongue twister? If so, I'm giving up. You can bust out the lashes or whatever you'd like to do to me today, I guess." (...ignore, ignore, ignore. It had gotten her this far, right? So, at this point, there was no other way for her than to grit her teeth, and double down. If nothing fucking bothered her, you see, then it didn't matter that... that the bitch was doing all those things to her. To Inna, this would soon be a regular Tuesday.)

"Oh," the queen chuckled, oh so charming. (Was she in a good mood, then? Or, or, or, was this meant to be a trap? Let it be the former, let it be the former, let it be the--) "I don't need to test your tongue, Innushka. I mean, I already have. No, that's not what this is about. Myaensa, my dear, means 'orb' in the old language. The orb, in fact. It is one of the keys to the ancient wisdom that may... hmmm... unlock Haenel's full potential. She is marvelous, of course, but she could be better! And you should be aware by now that I am never satisfied with 'good' only."

No, that she sure as fuck wasn't. "Let me guess, then. Do I go to some bullshitty dungeon to retrieve it?"

"Bingo!" ...awesome. Another day, another flavor of mindfuckery! Inna would like to say that she was surprised, but no, this fit the pattern damn too well. "Will you do it for me, darling?"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"...yes, my queen."

***

If nothing else, Inna had to admit that the E-keysmash Express was pretty fucking convenient-- before she could so much as blink, she found herself... in a labyrinth? Great, just great. The awesomeness grew at such a rapid pace that the blonde had no idea whether she'd manage to hold it with her hands! (Briefly, the quasi-teleportation reminded her of Liora, too. It must have been years since she had saved her from Remus with that well-timed portal, or since... Ah, fuck. Do you like to hurt yourself, bitch? No? Then stop fucking thinking about painful shit? 'Cause Liora was an enemy, end of. How embarrassing would it be, really, if she got killed by some random-ass labyrinth dweller just because she couldn't stop herself from daydreaming about her ex? About her ex that had fucking killed her, and then tried to do it again? Inna wasn't a bubblegum, to be chewed over and over! No, she should get some goddamn self-respect, which... Ooh, there it was! A random-ass labyrinth dweller. Okay, okay, okay, time to start paying attention, the blonde guessed.)

The creature was small and fuzzy, and vaguely resembled a cat-- except that cats didn't generally have mushrooms growing from their bodies. Nah, mate! This was some Certified Suspicious Shit. Just to be sure, Inna sent a wave of fire towards the monster, which... uh. Only made it quadruple in size? Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. "Is this how you treat the great guardian?" the monster roared. "Me, who has served the great Haenel and Declan so faithfully? How dare you, Inna Orlovskaya! And you too, Liora. There is no need for you to be hiding, you know. I can sense you. Come out, come out! I do mean to ask you a question, as my duty commands. Both of you. Now, why do you seek the power I am guarding? Only those of pure heart may enter," ah, so this was why the queen hadn't even fucking bothered to seize it for herself, "and I won't make an exception for you just because Ivy and Vie were the ones to assign me to this maze. Well? What do you have to say for yourselves?"

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Well, Liora cannot really argue with the Mistress's logic––like she has met the blonde before and knows just how stubborn she can be so that idea that she wouldn't want this makes perfect sense. That she'll eventually come around and see that Liora, obviously, had been right to temporarily confiscate her powers... she's skeptical of how long that might take, but ultimately is able to see a picture of Inna realizing how clouded her mind had been under all of that demonic wrath. (Even if her stint going demonic had been brief, she does remember that it had been so, so easy to laser focus herself onto anger and use that to justify nearly every action she had taken at the cathedral. It had been exhilarating, too, holding so much raw power at once––feeling as though she could cause cities to crumble with the mere snap of her fingers. Yet while embracing that monster inside of herself made her feel powerful, she also realized how dangerous that power could be given that she had nearly killed them both. Once it was over, she had been glad to not have all that potential at her fingertips––so it could be the same for Inna as well.)

She decides to entertain the idea, with the understanding that Inna will be able to use her magic again––even if the Mistress is saying that there are those who would kill for her abilities, Liora is just not interested in stealing from the blonde. Hell, it's likely that she will return Inna's power in full, despite the older sorceress's warning that she won't be able to handle them, because it would feel wrong to her to keep any bit of it. (Possibly because she's already taken so much from her former friend already––her life, for example. And with the Mistress's reveal over how power is usurped? She wonders if that had been Vie's motivation for killing Ivy, because the idea that powers can be claimed through killing does not strike her as particularly new information. Then again, Vie probably knew a lot more about magic than she does or ever will, so she tries not to guess what had been behind that mysterious woman's decision. Doing so will only upset her, as she has discovered.)

At the end of her miniature lesson, the Mistress taps her finger on Liora's forehead and the location of the Myaensa flashes against the back of her eyelids. "Go forth, my child and claim the Myaensa and, together, we can bring Inna back home."

.............
​

In a matter of seconds, she arrives at the entrance to the labyrinth with the Mistress's words still fresh in her head, like ghostly whispers that repeat themselves each time they round the curves of her ears. It's annoying, to be honest, but she knows, even with her doubts, that if this is the only way to save Inna from her fucking self, then she will do this. Though she initially had guessed that the blonde was doing okay, especially under her new allegiance, she reminds herself that the Mistress had been convinced that Inna is hurting––that her demonic nature is preventing her from moving on. And while forgiveness would be great, that is not why she seeks to help Inna return to her normal self. Like Liora would understand if Inna never wants to forgive her, but if she can ease that hurt she must feel? It's worth pursuing this magic orb, she decides.

As she continues to spin these justification for what she plans to do with the Myaensa, she approaches the maze. The earth walls that make up this place stretch so high that it looks as though they touch the sky itself and when she looks down her eyes land on a mushroom speckled cat. At first, she doesn't even think to read this animal as a threat at all––in fact, it's possible she just assumes someone's weird pet got trapped down here. And since it appears to be sleeping, she decides she'll try to skate past it without disturbing the creature. However, just as she is making her approach, the hairs on the back of her neck rise, sending a warning through her body that immediately has her ducking behind a boulder. Not even a second after she has hidden herself, she peers out from her hiding spot and sees that Inna, of all people, has been blipped into the labyrinth as well. She covers her mouth to hide her gasp, to quiet herself. 'Jesus fucking Christ––couldn't she like, find something else to do?' Her stomach flips itself backwards looking at the demon, her heart launches itself somewhere into her throat, and she completely freezes in place. She stares at the blonde and tries to guess just what she's doing here (though it's pretty fucking obvious). Once more, she tries to study the blonde's gait, her features, any sign that suggests she is okay, that she is safe. (How pathetic is that? Inna fucking made it clear she wants nothing more to do with her when she cut that golden thread and still Liora can't help to concern herself with her. It's like she enjoys suffering or something.)

When Inna decides to try to kill the cat with fire, Liora looks away from the bright flames and presses her back against the boulder, trying to determine the best course of action. Then the guardian, aka the mushroom-cat, booms and calls her out and she debates teleporting herself away from this mess, because she doesn't really want to face Inna right now. But she remembers what treasure is hiding in this labyrinth and, if this orb can be used to steal Inna's powers, then the reverse is probably true as well. She figures that's why the blonde is here––except that the likelihood of her returning what she has stolen is so low that Liora decides to suck it up and face the demon. She squeezes the hilt of her sword before dropping her hands to her side and stepping from behind the rock to face the now quadrupled guardian.

The idea that only those pure of heart can access the orb does worry Liora. She may have a lot of delusions about herself, but being pure of heart is not one of them. Not after joining the mafia. Not after finding out she killed her best friend in a past life. Her heart may have been golden once, but it's been blackened over the course of time. Still, maybe she can sell her intentions as pure––after all, she isn't going after this object for herself necessarily. In the long run, she does want this to help Inna. (Vaguely, she does wonder how Inna will claim that her heart is pure. After all, one of them is fully demonic and the other's demon lays sleeping inside of her. Though, maybe this guardian knows why Inna is like this and will overlook that, casting heavier judgment on herself as a result! This is her fucking fault, she knows this and she can't pretend it's not.)

Refusing to look over at Inna for fear that she might breakdown if does––especially since she can barely keep her breathing under her control––she fixes her attention on the guardian. "I, um..." she clears her throat, steadying her voice and looking the giant cat square in the face; she doesn't want Inna to know how fucking nervous she is, because that would be fucking pathetic. (Apparently, she still cares what Inna thinks of her––probably more so than before!) "I'm trying to retrieve the Myaensa to restore... something important to me." 'Please don't fucking make me say more. Not in front of her.'

The guardian swishes her tail and eyes Liora, her feline features giving nothing away. "Is that so? It must be quite important if you are willing to face all that lies beyond. Now let us see if your companion's intentions are just as pure."

"She's not m––"

"Silence!" the creature booms, fixing Liora with a steely gaze before shifting her attention on Inna. "Now, Inna, what is it that brings you here?"

 

[Syntra]

So, in the light of recent developments, Inna only really had one question: what the fucking fuck? Did she have to, like, compose her own FAQ list, wear it around her neck and then point to it whenever it became relevant? (The list would only contain three fucking questions, too. Question number 1: "Do I want to see Liora?" Answer: "No, never." Question number 2: "But what if xyz? Do I want to see Liora then?" Answer: "Look up what 'never' fucking means." Question number 3: "How sure are you re: Liora-related issues?" Answer: "Enough to break your goddamn nose if you don't fucking stop following me, bitch!" Monothematic? A little bit, yeah, but Inna felt that Liora was pretty much the only person in her fucking life who didn't understand what the definition of 'no' was. Like??? Get a grip, bitch. The concept wasn't fucking difficult to grasp, but if she was struggling, she should use one of her fancy degrees to perform a thorough semantic analysis! "What the hell are you doing here?" Inna growled, with her usual tact. "Have you joined the ranks of my stalkers, or is this some giant cosmic joke? Either way, I'm not fucking amused." (...mostly because she knew exactly how this would end. Coincidence had prevented bloodshed the last time they'd met, but Lady Luck was a fickle mistress, you know? In one moment, she was kissing you on the lips, and then you suddenly discovered she'd stabbed you in the back. Kind of like Liora herself, now that Inna thought about it! ...except that Vie hadn't even had the decency to do that, actually. No, she'd looked Ivy in the eye before stabbing her, as if the action hadn't fucking shamed her at all, and... and... I will do the same, the blonde promised herself. Mirrors were a girl's best friend, weren't they? So, in order to be as helpful as possible, she would show Liora her reflection in all its dubious glory. Yay for self-awareness! ...and self-awareness granted through a blade, the demon thought, would be that much sharper.)

Of course, shit just couldn't be easy. Nah, mate! If the stupid guardian cat had had any sense at all, she would have let them battle it out, like two gladiators in the goddamn colosseum-- Inna had always kinda wanted to do that with Liora, really, so it would have been as if Christmas had come early. The only difference? Instead of presents, there would have been blood! (If she managed to ignore the bond they'd somehow forged, that was. Silently, the blonde had been hoping that maybe shattering it would be her ticket to Inner PeaceTM, but, uh, that hadn't really worked out. Not in the way she'd intended, at least. Some type of memory-editing device would have pulled it off-- deleting those few weeks during which they'd existed side by side without triggering the WWIII would have done wonders for her perception of Liora, doubtlessly. It would have been as if the bond had never existed in the first place! ...too bad, then, that severing it hadn't had such an effect. Pieces of that stupid link were still lying around in her mind, you see? Those shards were there, and they were sharp as fuck, and, shit, Inna couldn't even move without stepping on one of these motherfuckers!)

(...how was this fair? Why should she have to carry the burden of a woman she'd never fucking met, solely because she had been her at one point? Like, the past was in the past, bitches. That was why they didn't fucking call it 'present'! In the PastTM, Inna had been an innocent, wide-eyed kid, too, and yet the cops didn't give a shit. Why, then, should this much more distant past dictate how the rest of her life would turn out? ...because it fucking hurt. Because, when you lost a limb, you didn't fucking shrug and go 'eh, it's fine, I'm sure it'll re-grow once I level up.' No, the injury was there to stay, and in a way, it felt as if something physical would have been kinder. The fucking scar in her mind? It had always been there, Inna now realized, and distorted everything she'd ever seen. Like... like watching the world via cracked glasses, or something!)

"I'm fucking here," she said before folding her arms on her chest, "because my queen commanded me to. There, happy? I'm doing my duty, which I'm sure you bootlickers view as honorable. Blah, blah, blah, something about 'staying true to my word,' I suppose. Now, will you let me go?"

The guardian regarded her with something that could only be regarded as exasperation-- if you wanted to stay in the realm of politeness, at least. "No, Inna, I'm not happy with that answer. Try at least a little bit, why don't you? You out of all people should know what kind of penalty is there for those who fail the test."

"Well, I don't!" the demon shouted. "Like, maybe you didn't get the memo, but Ivy's memories weren't fucking downloaded into my brain." Aside from the truly important ones, that was. You know, those that had destroyed her entire goddamn life? Yeah, exactly. "So, what is it? Will you trap my soul in some dumbass crystal so that archeologists from the distant future can dig me up and release my wrath upon the world? Well, do it! It's not like I fucking care, and a vacation would have been nice, and--"

"No," the cat sighed. "No crystal for you, child. This time, there won't be any recycling. Your soul will be shredded, just like Ivy and Vie agreed centuries ago. Can you not think of at least one noble reason? I'm sure that, somewhere within you, there is still..."

"What?" Inna chuckled, bitterly. "Some semblance of good? Fuck off. Like, have you looked at me recently? Or ever, if I'm to be honest? I'm not your fucking Disney protagonist, you pathetic excuse for a house cat. I also genuinely have no fucking idea, so do what you must, I guess." Yeah, she was Officially DoneTM with... well, just about everything. Liora? The demon queen? Alessia? All of those bitches should go to hell, but since they refused to, Inna would retreat there instead. Having her soul shredded couldn't be worse than this, now could it? It just couldn't!

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Despite wanting to cower away from mere words Liora pretends as if she didn't hear them at all. It probably reads as her usual I'm better than you so I'm not even going to speak to you attitude, but if that is the only armor that she has she will wear it. She isn't a masochist and being hurt by those she cares about is just not her kink, okay? Her mommy issues may run deep, but they aren't that fucked up. So the inquiry rolls off her shoulders and lands somewhere in her back pocket, where she'll let herself hurt over it later; hurt over the fact that Inna is so disgusted with her presence it makes her rage. (Were she still full of her usual self, she might have rolled her eyes at Inna and told her to not fucking flatter herself, but her inner bitch seems to have resigned from her position. Or she's been reclassified? That's more likely and with this recent reclassification insulting Inna is no longer part of her job description, apparently.)

Again, she just fixes herself on the task at hand and ensuring that she is able to get through this labyrinth. If Inna is left behind because she can't prove her own purity, then that somewhat benefits both of them. Liora won't have to worry about competing with the demon who would rather watch her head roll and kick it around like a soccer ball (she imagines) and she can claim the Myaensa to save the demon in the end. It seems like a win-win situation until the guardian reveals that this test isn't some 'Oh, you failed, now turn away' bullshit; it's the kind of test that only magical bullshiters (like Vie and Ivy, apparently) would decide that failure means certain death. With no chance for reincarnation! Ugh, okay, well Liora also isn't going to let that happen either––that would defeat the entire purpose that she's here. (Even if the Myaensa could give her other powers, that line of thought doesn't even occur to her when her weakness, Inna, is about to perish because of her own fucking stubbornness... Which, last Liora could recall each time they had faced death before, the blonde always opted for strategic retreat––to see her give up so easily is alarming. It causes her to look at the blonde more carefully now, perhaps seeing the hurt the Mistress had identified before.)

"Ah, well, so be it, Inna. I suppose I didn't sharpen my claws for nothing," the guardian says, her voice a mixture of excitement and disappointment. (Guardians can contain dualities too, Liora guesses.)

Just at the guardian lifts her paw, Liora interjects, "Wait––" while she doesn't dare to step in front of Inna, because that's like asking for Haenel in her spine, she does raise a barrier between the cat and the demon. "You can't be fucking serious? You're just going to take her at her word?" she arches a brow and stares at the guardian who seems intrigued enough to at least back down––though her eyes seem to dance with something deadly, like she's waiting for Liora to fumble this as well.

"Go on, child, what do you have to say for Inna Orlovskaya that she has not already said?"

"Well, I would fucking assume that if you're meant to be the judge of this place, then you must have some ability that allows you to actually see one's purity beyond the bullshit words they tell you––I mean, I wasn't lying and... well, I can't speak for her, but regardless, do our words really matter when its our hearts you actually judge?" Geez, where the fuck did she pull that logic from? Her ass? Sort of, she will admit this is not an argument she has thought through and while she would typically like to have done more research ahead of time, this is at least based on what she knows of magical creatures so far. Plus, high school debate club also somewhat prepared her for coming up with arguments on the fly. "Look, if you know more than you're letting on then you know why I'm here and you know why it would be fucking shit to tear her soul to shreds, okay?"

This entire time the guardian stares at Liora, she even starts to lick her paws as if she is not listening at all (and she very well may not be), but at the end, she finally appears to consider what the young sorceress is saying. She eyes Inna with suspicion, but ultimately relents. "Go forth. And remember, keep your eyes forward, do not look back, and never walk the same path twice. If you are pure of heart, you will see the solution or will go mad and beg for my mercy, which I will not give per our agreement, Vie and Ivy."

Liora nods and, again, without looking at Inna she drops the barrier and goes forth into the labyrinth without waiting for the demon. Inna could very well kill her in this labyrinth, she realizes, so before she can wait for that outcome, she breaks into a run and calls on spirits, molding them into giant bats, and has them watch her back since she can't look back now. Only forward and forward seems to lead her towards the sound of... someone crying?

 

[Syntra]

You know what? Maybe it was fucking meant to end like this. Inna didn't tend to believe in grand concepts like destiny or love or actual human decency, but perhaps she would make an exception for this twist, 'cause it was real fucking convenient-- like two puzzle pieces fitting together, really. Just, think about it! What did the cat monstrosity want? To kill someone, duh. What did she want? Five fucking seconds of peace. And since Fate wouldn't grant it to her for as long as she breathed, apparently? There was a very obvious point where their particular desires intersected, and could be used to support one another. Together, Inna thought, they would make their dreams come true! (...the no reincarnation thing was honestly a fucking plus, too. If she could be reborn as, say, a famous singer who spent her days stealing girls' hearts, she'd take it, but knowing her luck? The blonde would probably end up being some dystopian corporation's fucking slave, 3000 years into the future when having microchips planted into your brain was not only not shocking, but also a prerequisite to getting a job at all. You know, so that they could fire you for daring to think of something else than The Company's BenefitTM for more than 0.5 seconds while on the clock! A goddamn paradise, alright. And when she imagined that Liora would probably get reincarnated as well and find a new, exciting way of shitting all over her once again? Nope, thanks. Instead of that, Inna would prefer chilling in the nothingness-- perhaps, in the form of concentrated willpower, she would force her energy particles to form a fist and then fucking break the Creator's nose. The bitch certainly deserved some sort of retribution, which...

Wait. Wait, wait, wait! Was Liora, like, trying to help her? Why, though? Inna couldn't think of any justification, and trust her, she was rummaging through her brain at such an aggressive pace that it was straight up overheating. (...maybe the woman just liked killing her that much? Like, imagine that murder = cake. Now, if cakes were your life's sole passion, would you offer one to your neighbor for no fucking reason whatsoever, or would you just... not do it? Yeah, exactly! And if you enjoyed murders as much as you enjoyed cakes, then this comparison would hold here as well. Uh huh! Liora, in her one-dimensional villainy, simply wanted to save that fucking kill for herself. Hell, who knew? Maybe she was even playing some sort of twisted game with Inna's life-- kill her five times in a row, get a kickass stain remover/discounted T-shirt/ticket to a Paramore concert! Man, was the blonde looking forward to the remaining... what, three tries? Provided that there weren't more past lives she didn't remember, of course. An official fucking scoreboard would surely help, but she expected not to get it, exactly because of that. Helpfulness? In this bitch-ass world? Nope, Inna Orlovskaya didn't think so!)

"What are you trying to pull off here?" the demon narrowed her eyes. "I'm entirely okay with this outcome. Didn't you preach some bullshit about responsibility? Well, I'm trying to accept it! You know, consequences of my choices and shit." Except that, boo hoo, the guardian seemed to take Liora's side. Just, ugh. What was a girl to do if she wanted to be taken seriously here? Was she, like, supposed to bribe it with fucking catnip? Or a dog, maybe? Could the stupid cat be scared into obedience via a dog? Hmmm, hmmm. This theory would have to be tested later, the blonde guessed, because she had brought neither.

"Fine, fine," she rolled her eyes. "But you know what? As a guardian, you fucking suck. You can't even guard a fucking entrance from a goddamn demon! Zero out of ten, that's the score you deserve. Do you offer your services on the internet? Let me know where and I'll give you a review, you filthy, lice-ridden..." Oh. Oh, Liora was high tailing it out of there! Okay, yeah, no. Wherever she planned to go, the blonde would follow her-- as revenge for her unsuccessful suicidal not-attempt. That would show her!

The crying reached her ears as well, of course, and probably sooner than Liora's at that. Demonic senses, you know? Something about ~becoming more connected to her animalistic side~ and shit. (Had some fucking baby wandered in there? After the """guardian's""" embarrassing display, Inna genuinely wouldn't have been shocked had a random toddler passed its test. Weren't babies supposed to be the purest creatures ever, after all? Not that Inna thought they should count, mind you-- like, clap, clap, you managed not to be evil because you lacked the brain cells for scheming. Ground-breaking! Want a fucking cookie?)

As she approached closer, however? It... wasn't a baby, alright. Quite distinctly at that, too. No, a grown woman was bawling there-- a woman surrounded by a shining, ethereal aura, that Inna just knew to be Ivy. (She wasn't wearing her ID around her neck or anything, of course, but the blonde recognized her, in the same way she'd recognize her own handwriting or her awkward pics from third grade. The woman looked nothing like her, and yet she was her spitting image!)

"Vie," she pursed her lips and wrapped her hands around something, "I can't... I can't believe it! Just yesterday, she seemed okay. I was..." Ivy hiccupped, "planning to show her the world today, too! I built a small ship with small sails for her, and... and now she's never going to become a pirate!" ...uhhh, what? This was just so fucking bizarre that Inna forgot she had originally followed Liora to fucking kill her! Just what the hell was Ivy holding? They didn't have to wait long for the answer-- the woman didn't hesitate to open her fist, you see, and... yeah, it was a fish. A. fucking. fish. "I, um, may have forgotten to put her back in the pond," she admitted sheepishly. "But only because I was training her so that she'd learn to breathe the air! I was thinking, if I did it gradually... Please, Vie, could you revive her?"

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Hmm, ordinarily, ominous crying in an equally ominous labyrinth with it's weird fucking mushroom-cat guardian would have Liora trying to avoid running into this. Like, she once played a zombie game, after hours of Sol begging her to be the final addition to her team, that featured creepy crying women that usually only resulted in you getting your face torn off. Since reality has been like video games, comic books, and fantasy novels, it seems a safe bet that she is about to walk into a goddamn shitshow (as if her life isn't enough of one already). However, because she cannot turn back and the labyrinth has yet to reveal a turn for her to run down, she continues in the only direction that she has, preparing her bats to protect her once more.

However, when she finally runs into the crying figure, she freezes in place. She hardly notices that Inna has caught up to her, because she is so struck by seeing Ivy for the first time. Well, not the first time, because, duh, Vie has seen her a bunch of times and since she is Vie, this clearly cannot be the first time; also the random memory flashbacks also have told her what this woman looks like, but seeing her outside of her mindseye? She's beyond startled––even if she can tell this is some trick of the labyrinth. (But just what is it trying to gain by showing them this? She doesn't know. All she knows is that her heart aches looking at Ivy. Guilt floods through her and it's like being submerged in an ice bath; she only grows colder as she observes the woman.) 'Fuck, she was so innocent... and fucking stupid,' like how did Vie justify killing her? Again, Liora refuses to make any guesses.

As Ivy cries, Vie materializes in front of her with a similar ethereal glow surrounding her memory. She has long jet black hair that falls behind her back like a waterfall, ruby (?) colored eyes, and freckles dusted all over her face; her cheekbones are sharp as well, giving her an angular and naturally cutting look. While she also has tattoos that cover her arms, unlike Liora's that are floral, Vie's appear to be specific markings––magic symbol shit, if Liora had to guess. The woman looks at her friend and while she appears to be made of stone, with eyes that are unrelentingly critical (Liora knows the look all too well since she does own a mirror and has also stared into her mother's eyes), when she opens her mouth to speak it's like she speaks from a hearth. "Ivy, please do not cry. You are going to make me cry, for seeing you so wounded makes me want to take on Death herself for causing you such misery," she says, stroking the other woman's cheek and tucking her hair behind her ears. If she thinks her friend is as stupid as Liora does, she keeps it to herself. Vie looks at the lifeless fish in Ivy's hand and tilts her head to the side. "For you, I would raise entire armies if you asked––and, come to think of it, I have. Of course I can bring back your fish, my little light. However, since she is your responsibility, I will need some help from you as well," she smiles, though it's just the faintest twitch of her lips and yet her eyes seem to express all of her affection. She presses her lips to Ivy's forehead and then uses both of her hands to encase Ivy's own, and by extension the fish. "I am not sure if I can correct her fish-nature, it would have been much easier for you to make an amphibian your pet like the newt I suggested, so just make sure to give her some water. She may never learn to breathe air."

Underneath Vie's hands a flash of light appears and the sound of a fish flopping around can be heard echoing through the maze. When the woman lifts her hands, revealing the revived fish, she does her version of a beam. (Which again, is a cheesy smile that is revealed through her eyes alone.) "Now, let us find some water for her. I would hate for her to perish twice." She starts to walk forward through the maze and when she is a few meters away, she disappears.

Stepping back from that weird fucking hallucination, Liora looks dumbfounded. Like she cannot believe that those women are Vie and Ivy. That Ivy was apparently Vie's weakness as much as Inna is her own. What's more is a surge of white hot anger zips through her bloodstream after seeing her past self––her past self who has given her nothing but the consequences of her actions. (And the cool powers, she guesses.) If she had had the thought, she might have tried to strangle the ghost for everything she has done.

Through her peripheries, she notices that Inna is standing beside her though she isn't really sure what to say to her or if there is anything to say. (Or if saying anything at all is even a good idea. Even if she desperately wants to know what the demon makes of that blast from the fucking past.) She shifts a little bit and then finally looks at Inna. "I... nevermind," she decides and turns her head forward again.

With her ghost-bats watching over her, she decides to press forward and this time she does not run. She's too distracted as her mind replays the scene in her head. 'My little light... Is that what you, or I, fucking said when you... we killed her?' She screws her face up in disgust the more she tries to twist out meaning from what she has just seen. Yeah, Vie seems like a stone-cold baddie, but she also clearly had affection for her friend. Like, if Liora hadn't known better, she would have guessed that Vie possibly L-worded Ivy. Like, super hard. Why else would you promise to raise an army for someone?

As she continues on, unknowingly following the path that Vie had started, she hears the sound of more voices in the distance. It's clear that it's two women speaking and Liora doesn't have to guess who she will see this time around as this labyrinth seems to be dedicated to Vie and Ivy's Most Excellent Adventures. This time, when she sees her past self Vie is on her knees hunched over and clutching her stomach. "I-Ivy––I'm sorry," she mumbles, her voice sounding far away. "I couldn't... couldn't stop them. I don't know..." her voice trails off as she falls to side, revealing gaping wound in her torso––it's slowly growing wider and sinking deeping into herself as if she is disintegrating? "Don't know, if we can... Fix this... Y-you have to. Finish this. Go!"

 

[Syntra]

...had Ivy, like, opened a goddamn textbook once in her life? Not that Inna was a proponent of the propaganda schools filled kids' heads with, of course, but some education could be good, in small doses. None of that 'communism bad, capitalism good' bullshit, though basic facts about fish? Such as, uhhh, them only being able to breathe in fucking water? Yeah, such knowledge wouldn't exactly endanger the existence of their communist utopia! (Well, that, and fish had the right to live as well, you know. A world without fish would be a dark, twisted place-- kinda forests without evil witches, or amusement parks without... amusement... Look, it would just fucking suck, alright? Fish were bros, so Inna wouldn't stand for this travesty. In many ways, they could even be better than people! Had you ever heard, for example, of a fish bitching at an overworked cashier? No? Fucking see, better than people!) Anyway, the blonde fully expected Vie to chew her out. Despite her bias, she could even admit the inevitable bitch slap was kinda deserved-- like, clap clap, Ivy, congratz for being a stupid fucking brat. You know these hats with 'dunce' written on them? Well, this episode proved she should be required to wear one by law!

...except that this didn't happen. No, not at all. Instead, Vie treated her colleague with respect (?), affection (??) and thoughtfulness (???) Like, she even went so far as to validate Ivy's dumbass delusions! Wow, Inna thought with dull resentment, the bitch speaks like a fantasy character, too. 'Hurr durr, look at me! I'm Vie, and I'm literally incapable of communicating like a normal fucking human being. Let me talk in the most convoluted ways, to prove I'm just that much better than you!' And, no, the fact that she'd been born centuries ago didn't excuse her. If Vie and Ivy were so great, they should have infused their fragments with... hmm, an automatic vocabulary & syntax updater? Yeah, something like that. Every dumbass knew that language fucking evolved, so if they wanted people from the far future to understand them, they should have kept that in mind! "What a bunch of pretentious assholes," Inna muttered, forgetting for a moment that Liora was technically supposed to be her enemy now. "'For you, I would raise entire armies,' my ass," the blonde mocked. "Who does she think she is? Fucking Shakespeare? Besides, not even an army would amend this chick's dumbassery. Not an expert, of course, but as far as I know, armies specialize in, like... murdering civilians and pretending it's heroism. So, not really good at common sense!" (Nooo, Inna wasn't bitter at all. Like, why should this anger her? Seeing Ivy treated like a fucking princess by the woman who had killed her wasn't maddening, nuh uh! She also didn't feel jealous, because being jealous of yourself would have been a new fucking low. Nope! It wasn't like her mind was currently busy replaying all those instances of Liora not acting like this-- of Liora pushing her away after she'd saved her goddamn life, Liora lying to her, Liora rejecting her and being a fucking bitch about it, and so on and so forth. Just, ugh. How come the murderous bitch version of her partner had somehow been better than what Inna had gotten?! A conspiracy, that was what this was! A conspiracy meant to reduce the total amount of awesomeness in her life, and guess what, it was succeeding.)

Inna didn't really have a lot of time to bitch about this, though-- not when another merry vision presented itself to them, because more cryptic bullshit was exactly what they needed.

'Vie,' Ivy sobbed (fuck, did she ever do anything else?), as she crawled to her partner, 'Vie, I... no. I won't allow you to die here! You still haven't fulfiled your promise, remember? You promised that you'd build me a house, and decorate it with my favorite flowers, and... and damn, I changed my mind about my favorite flowers again! I decided I prefer sunflowers, because they remind me of you. They're big and cheerful, which... doesn't really sound like you, admittedly, but I know you can be like that! Or at least, you make me cheerful, and... um, yeah." Wow, look at these two cringelords! They really fucking loved one another, Inna realized-- you could practically hear the wedding bells in the distance. (Except that, surprise, surprise, they were actually funeral bells. ...maybe Vie was just into some real twisted stuff? 'Cause there was literally no other explanation.)

"I won't let you die here," Ivy continued with her cringey crusade, "you hear me? I'll... I'll give you a bit of myself. To make it better." Gently, she touched the other woman's wounds with one hand, and her own forehead with the other-- the spots began to glow, with the intensity of a pretty shitty light bulb. (Yeah, yeah, not romantic. You know what, though? Fuck off! Inna's own romantic life was in fucking shambles, so she didn't feel like composing verses to her own dead alter ego. Besides, what? 'Giving her a piece of yourself?' Well, the joke was on you, stupid bitch, because Vie repaid you by giving you a piece of her goddamn sword, hahahaha! ...fuck. Why did she feel like crying now, too?) Ivy proceeded to wrap her in her arms then, and placed a small, innocent kiss on her forehead-- a seal of some sort, apparently, for Vie's wounds began closing. "There," the girl smiled, not caring that she was drenched in her own sweat, "it's all better now. We can do it together, you know? Just like we always have. In unity, strength!"

The image of the two women flickered then, as if whatever was transmitting the signal broke down, and, just like that? They were gone, as if the vision had been a goddamn fever dream. What remained, though, was the wall standing in their way-- a wall that happened to have swirling tentacles on it, 'cause everything was cooler with tentacles. (Seriously, what was up with the weeb nonsense? First the kraken, now this! Somehow, Inna had a creeping suspicion the Creator had exceeded the WHO-approved daily recommended dose of anime when designing this bullshit.) "How fucking dangerous can this be, anyway?" the blonde asked. As if the world itself yearned to answer her question, a bird attempted to fly over it-- 'attempted' was a good way to put it, mostly because it got torn to bloody fucking pieces within seconds. Uh oh. But... hmmm. Could this be? Among the tentacles, Inna could make out an inscription, and... "In unity, strength," she read, dubious.

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Liora tightens her jaw when she hears Inna talking to herself––only to realize a second later that, no, the blonde is actually talking to her. Which shouldn't be that alarming given that they were, briefly, friends at one point and colleagues for much longer than that. Obviously, they have spoken to each other before; it's just that now, with the Inna having discovered not only Vie's betrayal but her own, she didn't expect this kind of casual commentary from the demon. If anything, she expected Inna to outright attack her. So she's not exactly sure how to react or what would even be appropriate. She's not even sure if she believes that Inna is being genuine or if she is trying to lure her into some trap someway, somehow. Carefully, she looks at the demon and her eyes soften, because these kinds of remarks are what she misses about her once companion. They may not be what she misses most, but they are easily in the top 5 things she finds herself yearning for late at night when no one else is awake except for her. Besides, she had a similar line of thought about them as well––at least Ivy spoke somewhat normally. Vie refused to use fucking contractions to make herself sound less stiff, like somehow you can be above fucking contractions. (Well, other than when she is about to die, apparently. Apparently, that's as good a time as any to start letting loose. 'How fucking pathetic.')

While Liora does want to respond to maybe rekindle what has been lost, as feeble as that attempt might be, she is distracted by the women once more and their apparent romance novel level bullshit devotion. (How can you share a connection so pure only to shit on it later? Fuck, Liora would consider herself fucking lucky if anyone cared about her half as much as these two care for each other. Like, she really doesn't believe in love and never really has. Between watching her mother's seven failed marriages, three disastrous long term partners, she just assumed that if her mother couldn't get that right then it must not be real at all. Though Liora knows someday she'll get married, because duh that's what you're supposed to in your late twenties to early thirties, she also assumes she'll have as many divorces/annulments as her mother.)

Her eyes widen in horror, not shock, when Ivy crawls towards Vie and declares that she'll give some of herself to the unworthy bitch. "Don't," Liora mutters, "don't fucking do it, bitch..." Of course, talking to memories does not change the past at all and this tale unfolds exactly as it once had in the past. The woman looks away, her hands forming tight fists as her shoulders and entire body stiffen. 'After even that... we still fucking killed her? Why?' Despite not making guesses as to why, the simple question haunts her––so much so she wonders if others can see it hanging like a ghost by her side. When the scene stops, she doesn't seem to realize that, trapped in the stew of her anger at a version of herself who didn't have the goddamn decency to show her true bitch nature––at least she's better than Vie in that regard.

It's not until the torn up bird drops in front of them and Inna reads the inscription on the... tentacle wall (yeah, alright, why the fuck not) that she breaks from her trance. "In unity, strength," she repeats, folding her arms together as she thinks about what that could fucking mean. Like, is that supposed to be a helpful fucking hint or something? Because it doesn't make any fucking sense to Liora. Other than the echo of Ivy saying it just moments ago, but it's not like the dead woman gave them more than that to work off of––how the fuck is anyone supposed to know what to do––

'Oh.'

The answer appears in front of them once more. Well, not in front of them per se, but at least Liora feels a long buried reflex resurface and, unfortunately, a lot of what she believes they have to do involves some romantic-ish gestures. Even if she is not over Inna, she doesn't really think that the blonde is going to want to go along with this. However, the only other option is to turn back and apparently lose their shit in this labyrinth. (Maybe Inna would want that, she thinks bitterly––not that she totally blames her all things considered, but she personally would like to get out of this maze alive. If she can do that, and first claim the Myaensa, then she can bring the blonde back to herself and free her from her own demonic prison.) "I know how we get past this wall," she finally says, staring at all the moving tentacles that bring back a disgusting flavor to her mouth, reminding her of that stupid fucking kraken they defeated together––when they reclaimed Declan and Haenel. When they sort of started to be normal around each other. "I think we'll have to fucking work together––and don't even try to tell me how fucking stupid that is all things considered," like them being fucking enemies and trying to recover the orb for vastly different reasons. "But if you want half a chance at being successful with your mission, this seems like the only fucking option."

(She already thinks this is going to end poorly, but if Inna agrees, then what they'll do is relatively simple. They'll have to stand and face one another. When they do that, Vie (Liora) will place her hands on Ivy's (Inna's) shoulders. Liora will then glide her hands down Inna's arms and grab her hands, lacing their fingers together. They'll lift their arms to place their palms against each other's and repeat half the phrase that is inscribed on the wall, "In unity, strength." When their hands start to glow, they'll have to embrace each other and whisper the hidden part of the phrase, "In devotion, protection." After they part from the embrace, with their glowing hands they'll pull a flower from their chests and tuck it behind the other's ear. Then, as with how they used to finish monsters and close rifts, they'll press their foreheads together and repeat the final part of the protection,"We can never be broken." Lastly, and the part Liora is most nervous about, they'll end this ritual by kissing each other's foreheads.)

"We––we can't do this without each other and I'm not going to fucking force you into this... What do you think?" she asks, rubbing the back of her neck and staring down at the dirt and kicking it with one foot.

 

[Syntra]

Of fucking course. Like, why not, right? This was just so on brand that Inna would have cried had her shitty tear ducts still bothered to work! (In the past, the blonde had been convinced that Fate or whoever the fuck ran this shitshow just spun their Wheel of Misfortune and went with whatever result it got. Seemed kinda sorta fair, right? Aaand that was your first mistake, pal-- assuming that the malevolent entity straight out of goddamn hell cared about concepts such as 'fairness.' Nuh uh. Instead of spinning a wheel or throwing a dart blindly, it made their (probably unpaid) interns work on a 'What Would Inna Hate the Most in Any Given Moment?' analysis, had it peer-reviewed, and then chose the top of the list every single time. Like??? This couldn't be a fucking coincidence. Coincidences, she had learned, didn't even exist-- every single event of her life had been designed specifically to fuck her over, usually in wildly unpredictable ways. No, really. There just wasn't a situation the bitch couldn't turn against her! Craving some donuts? Poof, sold out by the time she reached the store. Going by train for literally any reason? Apocalyptic delays. Getting paired up with a random-ass colleague for what should have been a mundane assignment? It turned out the colleague was your ex from your past life, and that she had killed you back then because, uhhh... because 'fuck you', probably? That seemed to be the universe's official fucking motto, after all.

That she had to cooperate with said colleague now, then, didn't really strike her as a surprise. Why, yes, pour more salt into her wounds! Exactly what Inna needed, indeed. (Briefly, the blonde considered just... fucking off, really. Flying over that stupid wall seemed like asking for trouble, and turning back would apparently result in her ~losing her mind~, but the guardian hadn't actually said anything about heading left or right, had it? And like, logically, the maze had to end at some point. The only way it would not end would be if they kept expanding it, brick by fucking brick, and Vie/Ivy had probably been too broke to pay construction workers for centuries. Not to mention, such a labyrinth would have swallowed the Earth by now, which distinctly hadn't happened! ...unless this was, like, a dimension reserved solely for mazes, for all of your wandering-related needs. The very existence of such a place was an affront to the common sense, of course, but realizing that only convinced Inna her theory wasn't implausible-- not when embracing the stupid seemed to be the supernaturals' entire shtick.)

Sooo, yeah! Ditching her responsibilities seemed real tempting right now-- especially in the light of, uh, the approach Liora suggested. (Kind of like choosing between staying in a five star hotel and under your friend's fucking bed, right next to the corpse of her mother she'd been keeping there for three months. The only problem with opting for the hotel? Well, it started with E and ended with... fuck, the blonde couldn't remember. Why did demons have to have such long-ass names? Like, what kind of pissing contest was that? 'Hurrr durrr, look at me, my name is longer than yours and so I'm a better fucking person! Somehow! Now break your tongue pronouncing it, you stupid fucking worm.' ...anyway, the """choice""" had been an illusion all along. Under the bed it was, 'cause in this analogy, Inna just didn't have any cash!)

"Okay, okay," the blonde muttered, clearly defeated. "Let's fucking do it. It's not like I have any dignity left, either, so I suppose this doesn't really matter a whole lot."

Couldn't the bitches have, like, come up with something less romantic? the demon rolled her eyes. Good thing that none of her new coworkers were around, truly, since this would have demolished her fucking street cred! (That, naturally, was what this was about. Liora's closeness didn't fucking scare her-- the same went for the way her brain pumped serotonin into her bloodstream the second she touched her, by the way. The little voice in the back of her head that kept whispering how this was good and right? Just a statistical error, really. No, Inna was fine. Fine, fine, fine! Hatred still burned in her heart, just like it did for any demon worth their salt, and that meant vengeance was her fuel. If some fucker cut her open right now? Instead of blood, thirst for revenge would burst from her veins! Besides, human contact was ewww-- a relic from the time when they hadn't known better, really. Like, would you put any stock in the opinion of idiots who thought the Earth was flat? Yeah, exactly. Clearly, them being wrong about 90% things meant they had actually been wrong about everything, but the humanity wasn't ready to accept that truth bomb just yet. Foolishly, they kept clinging to their stupid instincts, and... to their stupid pleasant instincts, actually... damn. Damn, damn, damn! Why did Liora have to look at her like that? Why did she have to spout these lies so convincingly, too? One would almost be inclined to believe she actually mattered to the other woman, and in a more meaningful way than her just missing her favorite fucking doormat.)

Okay, okay, okay, this was dangerous. Time to start with her favorite self-brainwashing program, then! Inna didn't like it. Inna didn't like it. Inna didn't--

'You do like it, you dumbass,' Haenel spoke to her mind's ear. 'How pathetic can you be, Inna? Are you this desperate for affection? Don't you see this is a trap? She just wants to see whether she can backstab you again. At this point, it's her hobby!' And you know what? Haenel was right. The wall began dissipating, but Inna didn't notice-- mostly because the anger vision wasn't exactly great for... uhh, anything else than hyperfocusing on your target. (The fucking bitch! How dared she try to worm her stupid ass into her stupid heart again? Who did she think Inna was, a goldfish? 'Cause, spoiler alert: her memory was way better than that, and.... memory, huh. Maybe, maybe she should give Liora something to remember what what their had relationship turned into, too!)

"Cool," the demon smiled, "seems that did the trick. Thanks. A fucking joy to work with you, really." And then, without a hint of warning, she drew Haenel-- the sword shimmered in the sunlight, like a diamond, almost, and then... then it fell on Liora's face, splitting it apart. Slosh. "Just to commemorate our epic collaboration," Inna explained with a smile. "And, you know, to drive home the whole 'stay away from me' thing. Next time, I won't be this merciful, either! So bye forever, bitch."

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

It actually does come as a surprise to Liora when Inna agrees to go through with whatever ritual used to be theirs once upon a time. Like, she really was preparing herself to wander this maze for the rest of eternity. (Or teleporting herself out whenever she remembers that is, in fact, in her skill set.) So, before the demon can change her mind, Liora eagerly starts the ritual with her heart hammering in her goddamn chest the entire fucking time. (Can Inna feel how clammy her hands are? She fucking hopes not.) She doesn't want to get caught up in this faux-intimacy, but she does. That stupid maladaptive disease in her heart makes her knees all weak and twists all her thoughts so that she starts to forget that Inna is her enemy. That Inna hates her. That Inna wants nothing to fucking do with her. No, instead of remembering those important fucking mantras, her brain is mush and trying to cling to this act. Because that's all this is at the end of the day, a goddamn act that will never be real again. Inna isn't hers. And honestly she never really was to begin with. And still, she desperately loses herself to the moment and wonders if maybe Inna has too.

When the ritual finishes, her cheeks are aptly flushed and she doesn't really notice that the wall and all its glorious tentacles are sinking into the earth, revealing the floating Myaensa some distance away. No, she's much too distracted seeing Inna beneath her demonic mask, convincing herself that it's only a mask. She can pull it off––

Before she even sees the blade, hear it swish through the air, half her vision is covered in red. She stumbles backwards, grunts automatically, still unknowing what has just happened even if it's so fucking obvious. Even if she can now see Haenel in Inna's hand, soaked with her blood; even as blood spills from the wound, covering her lip; even as she traces the slash across her face, that starts somewhere near her hairline and angles down diagonally across her cheek, stopping an inch or so above her jaw. The pain registers all at once, causing her to gasp as she tries to hold her fucking face together. Disbelief washes over her first, she doesn't even realize that Inna is leaving her behind––but like why wouldn't she? She's just fucking cut her goddamn face open! Before she can stop it, anger follows suit and marches through her veins; she draws her own sword while her other hand holds the laceration. (No, she isn't going for revenge, but clearly Inna doesn't want peace––whatever, that should have been expected.)

"You fucking asshole!" she shouts, chasing after the demon instead of, you know, the Myaensa. She waves her sword through the air and blockades emerge in Inna's path; she also sends chains after the demon to fucking restrain her. "You're so fucking full of yourself! I don't give a shit about hunting you down!" Which is true, she never once attempted to track down her former fucking friend. She never once fucking even used that stupid fucking psychic link that the demon had severed. Never! And yet the stupid bitch cannot get it through that narcissistic, conceited fucking brain of hers that Liora has better things to do than to keep tabs on her arch nemesis––you know, responsibilities like saving the fucking world. (That she actually doesn't really care about.) "I don't give a shit about you!" not anymore at least. No, she has fucking self-respect so she won't bother caring about something that wants her dead. 'Pussy fucking bitch should have killed me when she had the fucking chance––should be second fucking nature to a goddamn mafia killer turned demon!'

(Does Liora really feel this way? Not at all, but the pulsating pain across her face can be felt in her chest and she knows that no matter what, she cannot get caught up in affection. Luckily, denying her own feelings is something she has a fucking Olympic gold medal in and she's the undefeated fucking champion! So she'll use the same tools she always has to pretend she's unbothered, starting with icing the bitch out––which she should have done the second Inna set Sol's apartment on fire. But you live and you learn, she fucking guesses.)

Then, remembering that she does, in fact, have the ability to teleport, she cuts open a portal that exits right under the stupid fucking orb. (She needs this. She needs this. She needs this––of course, the petty part of herself, the one that occupies the majority of her personality, is questioning why she should even try to claim this in an attempt to save Inna. Nevermind how she picked up on Inna potentially being fucking not okay, because why should she give a shit about that demon? Vie's promises to take care of Ivy's soul––build her that stupid fucking house, those should have fucking died the minute that woman offed herself. Actually, fuck that! They are fucking dead.

Nah, she'll fucking claim this orb for her fucking self. Maybe she will take away that fucking stipulation that she's only retrieving this so she can fucking fix Inna's demonic affliction––like, yeah, maybe she still will use it to cure her, but that will only be because she stole those fucking powers for good. This'll just be taking another threat off the fucking board. Besides, it would be pretty fucking neat to command the ele––)

'Liora!' Delcan interrupts, 'You're angry––rightfully so! Inna is totally wrong to give you what will be a super cool villain scar later, but if you act in anger now you will regret it.'

'Shut up. She's fucking sealed her goddamn fate––I'll thank her later for helping me bury those stupid feelings for her. That's all I owe that asshole.' Now standing under the orb, she pushes up spirits from the ground to lift her higher, to put the object in her grasp and steal those fucking powers from Inna. If Inna's fucking lucky maybe she'll consider getting her ass out of this maze––but for some bloodstained reason, she doesn't think the chances of that fucking happening are all that fucking high.

 

[Syntra]

'Yes, Inna,' Haenel whispered into her ear, 'oh, yes. Does it not feel good to strike her? Look at me. Look at me, and say I don't look perfect like this, coated in her blood. That, my dearest, is what she asked for. You're being too soft, though. Why not finish her off? Why shower her with endless warnings? Second chances won't win you your vengeance, love. ...and they won't win you the throne, either.' Okay, okay, okay. So, first of all-- Inna kinda had to admit that Haenel had a point. All those edgy quotes about blood looking like fucking rubies, etc. etc.? Liora's blood, gleaming on the blade, sorta did look like that! (Or like cherries, and rose petals, and... hmmm. Would licking it make her seem cool, or like one of those obvious villains from cheap action flicks that always got killed before the fucking conclusion for being a walking cliche? 'Cause Inna would hate to become one of those! Villains had few rights as it was, with their only chance at happiness being some stupid ~redemption~, but red-shirt baddies really got the short end of the stick. Nuh uh, she hadn't murdered the human inside of her for that! That would be like, uhhh... rejecting a fancy lawyer job so you could pursue a career at the fucking McDonald's.)

...that dilemma aside, though? Maybe Haenel was right about killing Liora, too. Like, why hadn't she used that moment to stab her in her traitorous fucking heart? A proper demon would have done that! It was, like, Demonic Behavior 101 shit. You got presented with a chance to off your enemy, with next to no risk involved? Duh, you fucking did it! That was the step 1. The step 2, then, was dancing on their mutilated corpse, recording a video of that and sending it to the demonic groupchat. That way, your """friends""" would know not to mess with you! (Yeah, yeah, it was a 'memory imprint', not a video, and a 'shared consciousness' rather than 'group chat,' but honestly? Fuck off. The function was the same, and as far as Inna was concerned, they'd only come up with the alternative names to avoid the association with the filthy, filthy humans.) So, yeah, it wasn't like the blonde hadn't known any better-- she fucking had! Casual cruelty had always been her forte, too, so like, why hadn't she ended her? Getting killed like that was exactly what the stupid bitch deserved. For... for lying to her. For killing her, back when she'd been Ivy and pure like freshly fallen snow! (That, perhaps, was why Inna resented her the most-- for seeing Ivy, knowing her to be her mirror, and then fucking comparing her to what she had become. Like, what an awesome upgrade! Clap, clap, Liora, thank you for your patronage.)

The one advantage, Inna supposed, was that her ex finally revealed her true colors. Ah ha! She had known her to be fake, alright, and this little 'I don't care about you'-themed speech proved it. (And that the lovely soon-to-be-scar she had given her might have triggered it? That didn't occur to Inna. In the blonde's mind, consequences were entirely free of actions, so this actually must have been true this entire time. Good for her, then, for discovering it. Nobody but Inna Orlovskaya would make a clown out of Inna Orlovskaya, dammit!) "Yeah?" the demon smirked. "For someone who doesn't give a shit about pursuing me, you are pretty insistent about it. What is it, some reverse psychology shit? Give it up, bitch. Giving up one me was fucking easy for you, so I'm sure this will be a breeze as well!" Liora, however, didn't seem to agree with her hypothesis. (Pfffft. Just, what was she thinking? If you could even call those pathetic algorithms being triggered in her brain over and over thinking, that was. A one million dollar question, ladies and gentleman: how did you restrain one who commanded the wind? You didn't!) Effortlessly, Inna flew over the obstacles, and dodged the chains-- the Myaensa was glowing just a few metres away from her now, yes, and she could almost, almost touch it, and then...

"Hey!" Inna shouted, narrowing her eyes. "Not fair, bitch! Teleportation is cheating. The International Demonic Committee forbid its use, especially when you happen to be called Liora Fucking Trihn. Do you have a signed fucking exception?" ...what? This actually could stop Liora, who was so reliant on rules she had probably even looked up which hand to use for wiping her own ass. So much the bitch valued the opinions of others that she had forgotten to form her own-- except maybe for the one about Inna not deserving to breathe. That, at least, seemed to have originated in her fucked up head!

Naturally, it didn't work. Just, ugh. Why did Liora's epiphany about not having to follow the traditions have to occur now? (She'd never make it in time now, the blonde knew. Wings of wind were pretty nifty, no doubt, but they couldn't beat fucking teleportation, you see? So, the Myaensa would fall into her hands, and E-keysmash would be angry, and... fuck, Inna didn't really have much of herself left. What now?! 'You know what now,' Haenel came alive again. 'If you can't have it, nobody should.' Which, hmmm... A solid line of reasoning, actually!)

"Hey, Liora," Inna shouted as a fireball grew between her hands, large enough that it resembled a small sun, "did they not teach you in the fucking kindergarten that you should not steal other children's toys? You know, in case they get angry and create a galaxy-sized explosion!" A very likely scenario to be sure, but as Inna was about to prove, it wasn't in the realm of impossibility. Oh no, not at all. So, before the bitch could teleport herself out of the situation? The blonde flung the fireball in her direction, not really caring whether she'd hit Liora, the Myaensa or both. Let Destiny decide!

 

[starboob]

☉ LIORA TRIHN ☉
​

Inna's brain must be made of worms, Liora is certain because thinking that she'll bend to the rules of demons when she is not the one who has embraced that part of her heritage is about as effective as telling a cat that couches are not fancy fucking scratchers. The rules just don't apply even if you desperately want them too, because that couch is super fucking expensive and your mother is going to kill you for letting the cat get anywhere near it! Okay, she's getting off topic but that's beside the point because the Myaensa is so close she can feel its power drawing towards her fingertips, seeping into her hand––

Liora isn't paying attention to whatever that dumbass demon is doing or saying, because her eyes are on that shiny glowing prize that is whispering promises of excellence her mind can only wish to comprehend. Her eyes seem to dance with victory so close to her, but suddenly she feels herself being pulled down by some unknown force, submerged in the spirits that she had been using as an elevator; the spirits shift and form a tight shield around her just in time before Inna's fireball destroys the Myaensa. Not even bothering to figure out who saved her ass (Declan), her eyes are fixed on the explosion in front of her that sends the protective sphere she's encased in backwards towards one of the walls. Still, she does not tear her eyes away from what has just happened––some part of her feels relieved, because that means the stupid bitch can't steal her powers as she had been planning to do to her. Of course, that also means if she's going to steal Inna's powers she'll have to use some of those alternative means the Mistress had reviewed. Whatever, erasing Inna's memories will probably be a huge fucking favor for her––maybe Liora will still be forced to remember that stupid fucking blonde, but at least the blonde can finally fucking drop her obsession with trying to maim Liora's psyche and fucking face!

The spirit shield drops once the dust has started to settle around her and she finally looks away from where the orb had been over to Inna, "You really have no idea what you've fucking done, do you?" Not that Liora has any idea of what this means either––aside from knowing she'll have to do more damage than she had initially wanted when it comes time to stop the demon and take her down for good. She is aware of nothing other than the visceral feeling of loss that seems to be permeating from Declan, actually. Realizing this, she looks at her sword which is starting to glow in a way she has never seen before and while it would be nice to assume she's unlocked the next level of her superpowered sword, she somehow does not think that's what's going to happen.

And she's right, unfortunately. Not only is Declan glowing but the shape of the blade completely shifts from a sword to the top half of the owl herself––however she's so much larger than Liora has ever seen her and so, so much angrier. The owl lets out a deafening screech as her eyes lock onto Inna and Haenel, "You have destroyed the key piece to our essence––that which could bind us and make us whole, for that you must be punished!" (Okay, it's weird enough seeing Declan angry, but this voice of hers hardly sounds like her at all. It causes Liora some concern, but all she can really do is hold the hilt of the sword tightly in her fists before Declan goes completely fucking apeshit.)

'Declan! What the fuck are you doing?'

'Silence, mortal––this does not concern you.'

That's an even more startling response. Like, didn't Declan just tell Liora to not act in anger lest she regret it later? And now look at what that stupid fucking hypocrite of an owl is doing! With her body so large, she's wildly crashing into the labyrinth and destroying it; that's not even the most concerning thing about her display, because then she opens her beak and lets out another screech that tears open a portal or something––Liora doesn't really know. All she knows is that suddenly there are hundreds of different spirits swarming what used to the chamber that held the Myaensa. Except that unlike the spirits Liora has been able to use to create different constructs, these ones feel different. Somehow unbendable to her will but she still registers them as spirits nonetheless. It's not until she catches a glimpse of one that she recognizes Vie––and then Ivy, then another Vie, another Ivy, and so on. It's like Declan has summoned several different iterations of their souls. (Or maybe this isn't Declan's doing at all?)

"What the fuck," she hisses through gritted teeth as she tries to regain control of her stupid fucking sword. (She is seriously considering tossing the stupid thing into a volcano if she makes it out of this place alive.) She tugs and pulls at the hilt while Declan continues to bring the labyrinth down, sending shocks through the ground below and opening up more portals beneath her feet as the dimension becomes destabilized. "Declan!" Liora shouts, whipping the owl into a pile of rubble before she's able to muster enough strength to put Declan back into her sheath. 'You stupid fucking piece of shit sword! Take your own fucking advice for fucking once!'

Her inner lecture against her teacher would have continued were it not for the wind whipping around her and the sound of Vie's voice echoing through the catastrophe. "Ivy––I don't understand! How could you?" (This does and doesn't sound like Vie; it's her voice, she can see her spirit in front of her, but something feels wildly off about the woman.)

 

[Syntra]

...whoa, whoa, whoa. Mere five seconds ago, Inna had kinda thought that Declan was the chill one-- that she'd been dragged into this via her stupid-ass link to Liora, and therefore could be considered a fellow victim. (Just, imagine having to be bound to the bitch for eternity! That was a plight the blonde could sympathize with, for she could indeed confirm it was The WorstTM-- kinda like discovering that the dream in which you had given a presentation naked had been real, actually, and now you were contractually obliged to undress whenever you appeared in public for any reason at all. The catch, though? The indecency laws still applied, so this translated into you being fucking shot at every time you tried to do literally anything! ...a weird comparison to be sure, but to her, it checked out. And as for people who didn't feel the same? For them, Inna only had one message: 'Stop being such a killjoy, you bootlicking freak.' Yes, bootlicking! Because, clearly, not being able to follow her line of thought meant you had to be a fucking corporation-worshiping NPC.) So, in a way, she had considered Declan to be her ally-- a partner in fun, really, because Liora simply could not meet her needs. Like, what did the two talk about before falling asleep? What was the least scandalous shade of grey to go with your otherwise black outfit, or whether it was acceptable to fart in your fucking bedroom when you lived alone? Peak entertainment, she was sure!

...except that Declan didn't seem to share her feelings. Like, Inna wasn't a mind reader or anything, but phrases such as 'you must be punished' seemed to point to the conclusion that the sword, uh, wasn't happy with her. Oh well. You could never please everyone, could you? (Displeasing everyone was infinitely easier, though, so that was what the blonde usually went with. Rather than getting comfortable with mediocrity, Inna aimed for excellence!) "No," she smiled at Liora, "but I knew you fucking wouldn't like it, so it looked like a sound plan. And, surprise, surprise! The awesome Inna Orlovskaya was right, just like she always is."

"Our essence," Haenel mocked as she jumped out of the sword, assuming a large form that mirrored that of Declan, "yeah, right. I, for one, am happy that I managed to get rid of you, you useless owl. Always, always you stood in my way! 'Haenel this, Haenel that.' No more, however. The demon queen recognizes my true talents, and has a better use for them. Don't you dare to try to drag me down to your level again!"

Inna likely would have said something, because wow, was this some popcorn-worthy drama, but the labyrinth collapsing on itself kinda consumed her attention. "Shit! What the fuck are you two dumbasses doing? Can't we, I dunno, talk about this like civilized fucking people? Or, uhh, civilized half-demons and their freaky talking swords, I guess?" The answer to that question was apparently 'no,' however, because Haenel and Declan proceeded to have their own Tekken-style match above their heads instead. The only thing that was missing? The cheesy fucking battle music! Ugh, what a fucking circus.

It seemed they had to put their clown shoes on as well, though, because the two of them were about to become a part of this goddamn performance. With incredulous eyes, Inna watched as one of the many, many Ivys become more prominent-- more tangible, kinda, with her glow suddenly less otherworldly. 'But, but, but, Vie!' she pursed her lips, like a child that had been denied candy. 'I didn't really betray you. Like, yeah, I did kill these people, but only because the soup told me so! It claimed that we needed more drama to become truly famous. Now I can have a nifty redemption arc! Our popularity will soar, and...' Oookay, what the fuck?! Inna was used to shit not making sense, mind you, except that this level of bullshittery was truly unprecedented. Since when could soups speak? And, besides that, what kind of soup would inspire you to kill someone? The blonde tried not to judge, as pretty much any reason to cut a bitch was valid, but come the fuck on. Assassins should have some sort of dignity when the rest of the world refused to! With great power came great responsibility, as they said, and they were responsible for not tarnishing the cool image movies like 'The Godfather' had earned them.

Meanwhile, however? More Ivys kept materializing, seemingly out of thin air, and they were all drawn to Liora.

'Hello, Vie!'

'Wow, I haven't seen you for ages,' one of them giggled. 'Not since you exiled my soul to literal hell. It's not so bad, though! After a while, you get used to being boiled alive. How have you been, anyway? Do you still like opera?'

'Vie, Vie! Do you think butterflies should get to vote for the president?'

A bunch of Ivys tugged on her sleeves, then-- clearly in an attempt to lead her somewhere. Where, though? 'It was mean of you to bury us in that desolate place, Vie,' one of them frowned. 'Did you know my mom never found out? Nobody found out, actually. We've never received any flowers, and that's the best part of being dead. C'mon, now you simply have to gather some sunflowers for me. No excuses! Can't you see how sad our grave is?' And she could see, indeed, for the tomb stone emerged from the ground-- a crude-looking, pitiful thing, with only her name carved into it. 'Really?' the Ivy on the left raised her eyebrow. 'Not even some platitude about us being a beloved friend? That's so cold, Vie. Had we killed you, you would have gotten a poem, at least! It would have been the best poem ever composed, too. So, what's your excuse?'