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"You know with a name like "Poseidon's Sorrow", I expected something like The Virgin Mary, or Michelangelo's David. Not... This." At the sound of complaining a pointed ear flicked once as it's owner cast a slightly exasperated glare at her companion, the other woman throwing her hands up in surrender while taking a quick step back with magnifying glass clenched in one hand. After a moment longer she dropped the glare and went back to drawing the sculpture as her friend let out a dramatic breath and went back to flitting around the statue to observe it from all angles. "Come on Ina," At the sound of her name Ina looked up as her friend completed another lap around the roped off exhibit, slipping her magnifying glass into it's holster. "Ol' girl ain't going anywhere, and you've come here almost everyday since you found it." A blush worked it's way up Ina's neck even as she staunchly avoided eye contact. "Even the normal people like me can tell it's a cut above the rest. Nobody is coming close enough to hear you gush about it, so spill the beans girl!"."
Ina's pencil slowed to a stop as she considered her friend's words before, with a quiet sigh, she closed her sketchbook and leaned over the stanchion to peer up at the raised stage that displayed said sculpture. It was an objectively beautiful piece, if not unbelievably detailed. Taking up around 50 square feet, the sculpture was unique in that it was a far cry from the other sculptures in the Greek wing. While those exemplified the beauty of every subject the one in question was melancholic, giving off an air of deep sorrow. It depicted a shorter woman lying against a stone, her head fallen back with her eyes closed. One of the woman's arms, both having fins down the sides and ending in sharp claws, rested upon the prongs of a trident, a trident that was buried diagonally in her chest with large splotches of what looked like obsidian inlaid to resemble blood, lines made to resemble rivulets running down her body and through indented lines that were most likely gills. Between the woman's shoulder blades lied a dorsal fin, and further down the spine, taking attention away from her legs and their fins, curled around the other side of the stone was it's matching tail. On her head was a long flowing wave of hair, hiding what looked like sensory fins where her ears should be. All over her body there were patches of texture, like scales, closely centered around her shoulders, arms, legs, and back. Her expression was one of fear, a too large mouth drawn up into a grimace with more lines of obsidian trailing down her lips to run down her neck and mar the expanse of white marble. However, in contrast to the rest of her face, her brow was relaxed, and her eyes were closed as if sleeping. The only clothing the sculptor had given the woman was a strange shawl and lowered cowl, fastened by a clasp with a faint engraving just under the right side of her clavicle.
"It's hard to explain Ame. I just... feel like there is something more to it." Ina raised a hand toward the face of the statue, gesturing at something unseen. "I can feel something reaching out, but its so weak. I..." Ina let her hand drop, an inexplicable sadness filling her chest. "I want to help it, if that makes sense."
"It doesn't, but i can kinda understand." Amelia tapped a finger against her chin, no doubt planning another hare-brained scheme. "it's like when I get a new case, you're not gonna stop until you solve it, eh?" At Ina's determined nod Amelia sighed fondly, wrapping an arm around the slender girl's shoulder and began steering her away. "Well that's easy enough to fix! Lemme just call up the other two, we're gonna need all hands on deck to for this one." At Ina's questioning glance Amelia gave her a large smile and chirped, "We're gonna steal it!" As Amelia threw her head back to laugh at the artist's sputtering, Ina cast one last glance back at the statue before they turned the corner. After Ina had regained her composure she flipped open her sketchbook, slightly mourning the fact that she had not been able to finish the piece. As Ina looked over what she had an uneasy feeling began to well up in her mind, one that screamed at her that something was wrong. Ina surreptitiously glanced around her and Amelia, who had taken it upon herself to call their friends, but saw nothing that could be causing the feeling. It was only when she looked down at her sketchbook again did she see the cause.
She had drawn the statue with open eyes.
Across from the museum was a vast park, the perfect place to disappear for a few hours and just enjoy Nature. However, the park itself was part of the larger forest that encompassed the west side of the city, and although there was a clear separation and a guide for those who were lost, a few people had gone missing in the forest. Later, when all the excitement of the next hour or so died down Ina would realize it was those exact reasons she had torn open a portal to the secluded glade she frequented. Once a quiet and calm clearing in the forest, that tranquil peace was shattered as a tear in the fabric of reality suddenly ripped through the air. As the portal stabilized, there was a loud thump as the statue "Poseidon's Sorrow" was dropped out of the vortex of purple energy and landed on a slight hill, teetering dangerously for a moment before a tentacle slithered out of the portal and wrapped around it.
And for a moment, that fragile peace was restored. But only for a moment as the portal tore open wider and three woman were discharged, landing in a heap of tangled limbs and shouting. While the ball of women were getting untangled, a fourth was gently lowered from the hole in the air, sitting aside a larger tentacle that wrapped around her waist. Once her feet had touched the ground, Ina stood over her friends with her arms crossed as she waited for the ringleader (Amelia) to explain what had gone wrong. There was more flailing (and muffled curses) before Amelia sprang up with a wide, slightly manic grin.
"All in all, I think that went well!" Amelia stood tall with her hands on her hips, the picture of confidence, that was only ruined by the layer of dirt that covered their ill-gotten prize and her scuffed clothing. Amelia patted the statue's head as she gestured in the general direction of the city, sirens barely audible this far from it. "We managed to get the statue, keep the existence of magic secret, and nobody was hurt! ... Except Calli." Calli, who had extricated herself from Kiara and was her wrapping her sprained ankle, stopped to flip Amelia the bird as the Phoenix laughed at her side. Amelia then turned to Ina who was holding her book with visible annoyance and closed her mouth with a click, before making a grand sweeping gesture and stepping away from their prize. "Alright Tako priestess, the stage is yours. See if you can take away "Poseidon's Sorrow." Ina attempted to remain stoic, but Amelia's dramatics always had a way of endearing her to others so Ina restricted herself to just pushing Amelia over as the blonde squawked in protest. Amelia, taking it in stride, used to momentum to roll down the hill, coming to a stop next to Calli and Kiara.
Ina took her lip between her teeth as her eyes trailed over the depiction of a dying creature, acutely aware of how even though there was a fair amount of distance between them, her friends were watching her. "That's not it's name, Ame." Ina pointed to markings in the trident, the Greek letters almost illegible. "When the Greeks found the statue they used their own mythos and culture to come up with something that made sense. With how she looks, and the prominent trident, they engraved it with 'Θλίψη του Ποσειδώνα'. Sorrow of Neptune in Roman, or Poseidon's Sorrow, if you prefer Greek." Ina then shifted to run her hand across the stone the statue rested upon, where there were incredibly faint scratches on an otherwise perfectly smooth surface below the woman's left hand/claw. " But I can feel... Something, right there." With a thought Ina's tome spun into existence above her hand, opening to her desired page on it's own. "With AO-chan this is going to easier, but even with Ao-chan I can only just barely feel something... A name I think?"
Ina nervously glanced toward back towards her friends, who all gave her a thumbs up to show their support, before closing her eyes, focusing on the almost imperceptibly faint pull those scratches gave off. At first nothing happened, that threshold of understanding so frustratingly faint, and Ina frowned as she widened her stance, her hand moving above the tome's pages as a the wind began to blow harder. After another ten seconds longer of straining for that pull to guide her Ina's confidence began to drop, the magic hidden away deep within frustratingly uncooperative. As such, she began to falter. However just before Ina's dropped the spell there was a whisper, just on the edge of her skull. A soft voice curling around her mind, gently asking to be let in.
There was a moment of hesitation from Ina, before she welcomed the intruder. The presence suddenly spilled in like ink, staining her mind with symbols and words, causing Ina to gasp at the as the squirming tendrils wrapped tighter. there was a thud as Ina's tome hit the ground as her hands came up to grasp at the sides of her head, the rasp of something slithering deeper into her brain drowning out even her friends shouts and causing tears to spring to her eyes. Right as the sensations were becoming unbearable, the human limit to eldritch tampering having been passed, the presence loosened it's grip. Ina felt as the thin tendrils that wrapped her mind retreated, leaving behind the knowledge required to understand and speak an impossible language. now that it's work was completed, the presence detached itself from the inside of her skull and gently stroked the back of her eyes as it left as suddenly as it came.
Ina gasped for air as her eyes shot open, stumbling backwards away from the statue and being caught by her friends as she fell.
"Ina!" that was Kiara.
"Are you ok?" Calli that time.
"What happened?" And there was Amelia.
Ina blinked rapidly as she came back to her senses, attempting to separate what she had just learned from what she already knew, having a few false starts as the language she had gained sat heavy in her throat. "Y''m- I'm ok, girls." Ina held a hand up to her temple as her friends hovered over her uncertainly. "I wasn't ilyaa, expecting, to gain a whole mgepnah, new, language at once is nilgh'ri, all." The look on Amelia's face told Ina that they didn't believe her at all, and Ina raised a hand to push Amelia's face away, ignoring the muffled protests, as she closed her eyes again. "I just need a second to Ahlw'nafhor." There was a pause before Ina groaned softly and corrected herself. "I meant breathe."
Although Ina still had her eyes closed, she heard as the other three quietly took seats next to her, and she appreciated the other girls presence. So there the four of them sat, listening to the soft whistling of the wind she had summoned around them as Ina took the time to come to grips with what had happened to her mind. That peace was broken when that whisper returned for a brief moment, an apology nestling cloyingly sweet into the spaces between her teeth and filling her nose with the salty smell of the Ocean and her mouth with the squirming sensation of small fish. Doing her best to ignore the feeling that made her skin crawl, Ina looked over to the statue again, sitting innocently on that hill.
Steeling her resolve, Ina stood and made to go approach it again. "I think I'm ready to continue." Her friends, who had stood with her, threw each other worried glances that did not escape Ina's gaze. "What?"
The three of them took a moment to think before Kiara spoke up first. "I do not know what happened up there, but it looked like it was hurting you a lot Ina."
Calli spoke up next, glaring at the statue due to something only she could sense. "Yeah Ina, ya scared us real bad. But whatever you did, it woke something in there up." Her eyes narrowed. "And it's not natural."
Amelia was the last one to speak, having been watching as Ina shrunk down on herself. "I think... We should let her do it." At the incredulous expression the other two gave her Amelia rolled her eyes and explained. "Look, we all saw that whatever lives in that thing clearly was able to get Ina." The girl in question looked down with a blush and hid her face behind her book. "But even so, She's perfectly fine! In fact, she actually gained something out of the experience!" Amelia slung an arm over Ina's shoulders, drawing the girl out of hiding. "So my point is that whatever is in there won't hurt the Tako."
Kiara and Calli took in what Amelia said and looked at each other, an entire conversation passing between them before Calli sighed. "A'right, we're in. BUT" Calli pointed at the statue. "If anything, ANYTHING, goes wrong call us. The four of us could take it." Kiara nodded, balling up her fists in solidarity.
Ina let a laugh bubble out of her chest, her friends support soothing the burn that was apprehension. "Thanks girls." So with squared shoulder, Ina began the march back up the hill, the other three trailing behind. With every step towards her quarry Ina felt a strange excitement building, recognizing it as coming from the presence. All too soon the four of them were standing before the statue, a heavy energy settling low in the air as Ina took a deep breath and lifted her tome again. "Here goes nothing"
Ina stepped closer to the stone, the air getting that much heavier at her approach, yet she did not falter. And as Ina placed her hand upon the markings in it the energy was almost palpable, and she could feel it flow into her when she took another deep breath before the plunge. "Fr'm thy h'me in th' d'pest depths ov th' Oc'an, an' th' p'wer best'wed up'n me by thy Mast'rs." All the sound in the forest clearing had stopped now, except the now whipping wind, which carried the scent of saltwater in it's wake. Amelia and Calli had taken up position behind Kiara and her shield, the three of them wary of the gathering storm of magic. "Th' who has bec'me som'thing m're in Th'ir serv'ce, I bind thee to mine." Ina's eyes had begun to glow, her hair floating serenely in the maelstrom that surrounded her. The other three had retreated down the hill, not willing to risk injury in case a fight would break out. Ina tilted her head as AO-chan whispered a change to the next line, offering to lend their voices as well. Ina acquiesced sensing that the change would only be for the better, and so a chorus joined her chant. Ch'ld who w'nce dwelt in th' Abyss, kn'w that th' f'rce of f'rg'ttin' is n't upon thee. R'turn to Us, ch'ld, th' true allegiance awaits by Our side."
The altered chant seemed to whip everything into a frenzy; the wind became wet with sea-spray, the ground churned likes waves around the base of the statue, and Ina's tentacles bust from her back. Yet through it all Ina could only focus on was the glowing lines that creeped down the length of the trident, burning away the Stone that encased it and revealing the beautiful sea-green color of the real trident underneath. Instinctively Ina floated above the statue and grasped the haft of the trident with both hands, the material seeming to sing under her tightening grip. "I n'me thee, Gawrgu'ra!" And with her final declaration Ina tore the trident from Gawrgu'ra's body, magenta ichor erupting from the holes it left behind with the sound of crunching bone.
Once the ritual had concluded everything immediately stopped, the churning ground settled, the wind went back to a gentle breeze and the statue seemed the same. Except for the softly glowing trident Ina held in a white-knuckled grip as she landed back on the ground, her hair and clothing wet with salt-water. Ina dismissed her tentacles along with the glow in her eyes, faintly she could hear her friends running up the hill, but all of her attention was on the tomb before her. As Ina waited desperately for any sign of life, she tracked the Ichor leaking sluggishly from the three holes in the stony exterior under which she could just barley make out pale white flesh.
Right as her friends had crested the hill, there was a resounding crack as a thick line spidered it's way down Gawrgu'ra's body, and from the crack came a low rumbling growl. The sound caused the three of them to stop dead, Calli and Kiara summoning their weapons and Amelia unholstering her gun, but not Ina. She instead crept forward and lay the trident down at the former prisoners feet yet did not retreat, after giving back the trident Ina sat down in front of it and waited. Fortunately she did not have to wait long, as soon chunks of stone began to fall from the others form, revealing a glowing eye colored an otherworldly rich shade of red with a cruciform pupil surrounded by void-like black. The eye moved wildly before it zeroes in on Ina's form quickly locating her non-human features then visibly calming down, a slender yet defined hand tipped with wickedly sharp black claws slowly raising up in Ina's direction. That hand then slowly turned to offer it's palm, an unspoken question in it's gesture. Will you help me?
Ina reached out with a steady hand and grasped it, noticing that where she touched the stone turned to powder and blew away. So she ran her other hand down the arm, watching in fascination as more pale skin was revealed, crisscrossed with both stark and faint silvery scars. As Ina was extricating Gawrgu'ra The others were warily watching the once stone woman for any signs of hostility. "Well," Kiara, ever the optimist, started as she dismissed her weapons. "She isn't attacking, that's a good start!"
Calli huffed at Kiara's words, resting her scythe across her shoulders. "For now. But I don't think we have to worry too much." Calli lazily gestured at the two, Ina now working on freeing the girl's torso. "Sounds like she's Ina's henchman now? or something like that. What do you think Ame?"
Amelia, who had taken out her phone and was furiously tapping away, distractedly responded. "Uh-huh."
Calli gave Amelia a thumbs up and chuckled. "That's the spirit!"
Kiara leaned over Amelia's shoulder trying to see what was on the screen. "What are you doing Ame?"
"Her name. Gawrgu'ra." Amelia muttered as she turned off her phone with a groan. "There's nothing, absolutely nothing!" Amelia threw her hands into the air, making Kiara lean to the side so she would not get hit. "Whenever Ina's 'friends' are involved there's always somebody somewhere on some tucked away occult site who had heard of them, but not her." Amelia thumbed her watch with a conflicted expression, worrying at her bottom lip. "A part of me wants to hop forward, get confirmation whether or not she's a threat, but another part of me sees the scars and just how small she is, not to mention the position her statue was in. And I can't help but think, 'what happened to you?'".
For a moment the three of them were silent, watching as Ina helped the strange girl sit up as she moved to free her legs and tail. "Next to Ina she does not look so small." Kiara spoke up, a hand over her heart and sounding heartbroken. "But you are saying she's just a little kid?"
Amelia sighed as she shoved the watch back into her pocket, crossing her arms over her chest after. "I would need to do a full examination, but I don't think she's a child either, Kiara." Amelia opened her phone again, eyes wandering over to the trident in the grass. "but until we can get her to talk, I don't think we're gonna learn anything. Ina mentioned the Greeks though, I wonder if there's something there..."
While the girls processed the new information Amelia had given them, Ina had finished unpetrifiying Gawrgu'ra's body and turned her gaze upward again, locking her gaze with that single visible eye, taken aback for a moment at the intense look in it. The eye flicked down to Ina's hands, then back up to her eyes. Ina let out a little 'oh' as she quickly brought her hands up to cup the other girls face, blushing slightly, as the stone began to crumble away. soon that singular eye was joined by it's twin, their unique cruciform pupils drawing Ina's attention and causing her to lean in closer in fascination. Her examination was cut off abruptly when her hands were met with cold skin, and she quickly jerked away with a raging blush. Thankfully for Ina, Gawrgu'ra was too busy scrambling off the stone, shouting her excitement in a language none of them understood as she span in circles across the hilltop. Her cowl and shawl coming undone at falling to the ground, leaving her bare and completely healed flesh to bask in the feeling. White and red hair spreading out to capture the light in its long strands and her tail's weight adding to the speed of her spin, Fins fully spread out yet never coming close to toppling over.
"Mgepna'ah'ehye! mgepna'ah'ehye Y' ah!" With an enormous grin stretching across rows of viscously sharp teeth in a mouth too large, Gawrgu'ra came to a dead stop with her arms outstretched, head tilted back like when she was stone. Her Cruciform eyes dilating into all black pools as she drunk in the moonlight, silver tears running down her cheeks. "Mgepna'ah'ehye Y' ah..." She then fell to her knees, still as the stone she was trapped in.
Ina, at a loss for what to do, looked to her friends for advice only to see two of them urging her forward and the third intently reading something on her phone. Wiping her hands on her skirt Ina knelt to grab the trident and Gawrgu'ra's clothes, idly noticing the shade of purple that matched her book, and walked over to the kneeling girl. Gawrgu'ra didn't react to Ina's presence, at least not until Ina gently wrapped her shawl back onto her shoulders. Gawrgu'ra's pupils quickly shrunk back to their original cruciform shape as they shot to Ina's hands, lingering on her nails as her claws came up to gently grasp the edges of her shawl. Ina, taking it as permission to get closer, took a seat next to the smaller girl, summoning her book to use as a medium for communication.
"Um, hi. My name is Ninomae Ina'nis." Ina could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand on edge when those eyes snapped to hers, although still there was an innate danger hidden in their depths. "Could you please put your hand on the book? It will help us understand each other."
"Nafl kadishtu Y' ah." Gawrgu'ra muttered as she looked at Ina, a nictating membrane flicking over her eyes causing the taller girl to shiver at yet another reminder that this girl was not even remotely close to normal, or human. Trying a different approach, Ina slowly reached out her hand, flinching slightly when Gawrgu'ra's eyes tracked it unerringly. Ina's arm shook slightly from that predatory gaze as she got closer to the now perfectly still girl, and belatedly Ina realized that she had never seen her take a breath right as her hand passed the invisible barrier between them. And when the feeling of dread reached it's peak, Gawrgu'ra shot forward and buried her fangs in Ina's wrist.
With titanic effort Ina managed not to cry out in pain, but she still let out a hiss when the others claws shot up and dug into her arm to hold it in place. Once Ina's arm was 'secure' her assailant let out a low growl, a purr Ina realized afterwards, and Ina felt as the smaller girl took a deep draw of her blood, eyes closing as that purr grew in volume before she gently unlatched her mouth from Ina's wrist. Ina found herself unable to look away as Gawrgu'ra opened her eyes, their mind-numbing red hue bleeding out into the inky black of her pupils to be replaced by a hypnotizing blue.
That intimate moment was broken when a sword was thrust between them, Gawrgu'ra leaping backwards with a twist to land on a single hand and snatch up her trident with the other. She then spun around on an axis and planted the trident into the ground, climbing it's haft and perching atop the tines with a fluid ease. Before Ina could even attempt to defuse the situation she was being hauled up onto her feet and ushered away by Amelia as Calli moved forward to join Kiara. "Wha- Hey!" Once Amelia had dragged her to what she considering a safe distance she wrenched Ina's arm up to her face to examine the bite wound, and for the first time Ina could not only actually feel the pain from it but also see it for the first time.
It was much like a shark bite at first glance. A crescent shape of staggered punctures lined her wrist, still sluggishly leaking blood, but that was where the similarities ended. There was a almost tangible magic coming off the bite, and the longer they stared at it the more it changed. The slits where Gawrgu'ra's teeth had punctured turning in her skin, changing shape to circular holes, then to thin crosses or small avulsions. Ina, who had a higher resistance to the effect of eldritch beings, tore her eyes away to look at Amelia, who's eyes were starting to flicker, and tore her arm away to hide behind her back. Once it was out of sight Amelia came back to her senses, holding a hand to her head with a groan at the mental backlash of looking at something she couldn't comprehend.
While that was happening, Gawrgu'ra watched as two of the other creatures stood in her way while the third dragged the object of her obsession at the moment farther away, causing a growl to bubble up from her second throat. The inhuman sound rippled across the expanse between the three of them and caused the Firebyrd to heat up slightly. Narrowing her eyes, Gawrgu'ra called upon one of her Gifts, twisting her essence just so that the mere sight of her would cause pain, and looking for too long could kill. To further the effect Gawrgu'ra let a large, wide smile overtake her face, the skin of her cheeks tearing apart the reveal more rows of teeth, these being needle sharp and almost vibrating.
At first it seemed to have no effect on the two before the Firebyrd suddenly doubled over, a hand to her mouth as blood leaked out between her fingers. Gawrgu'ra allowed herself to feel satisfaction in the knowledge that she had lost none of her strength from her long imprisonment, as the one she could feel nothing from tended to her companion with a wary eye of the one who caused her affliction.
"Kiara! What happened!?" The Firebyrd, now named Kiara, kept her eyes closed tight as she shook her head, throat already glowing to repair the damage as she croaked out a quiet reassurance.
"I'm okay Calli." Kiara took a deep breath, testing if her healing had done the job, before pointedly looking in Gawrgu'ra's general direction, but never near enough to see her completly. "I could feel something tearing my throat apart, I couldn't breathe through the blood." The now named Calli spent another moment fussing before glaring directly at Gawrgu'ra, seemingly immune to her Cutting Grin.
"Nnnogor ot orr'ee cahf ahorna mgr'luh." Gawrgu'ra growled with her second throat, relishing the fear the shuddered through their bodies as she began to stalk back down her trident's length, eyes never leaving her adversaries.
Before either party could make a move, a magically enhanced voice tore across the almost battleground. "Mgah! ng l' nog ya!" At the sound of the command Gawrgu'ra immediately dropped all signs of hostility, a small, cute even, smile settling onto her face as she happily scampered past Calli and Kiara on all fours with the trident carried by her tail. The two of them turned to see Amelia with sitting in the ground massaging her closed eyes next to Ina, who held her tome in a magical grip with glowing eyes.
"S'uhn Uh'eog!" When Gawrgu'ra got close enough to Ina she planted her trident again to swing herself upward and locked her legs in between the tines to gaze at her upside down with a reverberating, multi-leveled giggle. Ina, although shocked at first, simply smiled back at Gawrgu'ra, causing the girl the shudder at the direct praise with a blue blush on her snow white cheeks. Peering past the girl. Ina cast an apologetic look at her friend's slack-jawed expressions before turning back to Gawrgu'ra, whom was waiting patiently.
"Cahff ah ya... Friends." Gawrgu'ra watched Ina's how Ina's mouth curled around the word, using another Gift to peer directly at how Ina's vocal cords shaped to make the sound. Fh'r... Fr'ei... F̸̤̂r̶͕̒i̷̙͒e̴̡͠ṅ̷̫d̷̗͛s." Everyone aside from Gawrgu'ra flinched at the sound of both her throats morphing themselves to imitate the sound, yet Ina's patient smile never left as she clapped politely.
"Vulgtmnah mgep'ai!" Ina readied herself to teach more as two of her three friends watched on in a sort of glazed horror, Amelia actually covering her ears with a grimace due to having the least protection from the small monster. "Y' Ina. Ymg' Gawrgu'ra."
"I̸̩̕n̴͉͠a̴͖̍." Ina nodded encouragingly as Gawrgu'ra beamed at her, desperately ignoring the tingling in her eye at the sight. Ina then held up her book, watching as Gawrgu'ra's eyes lit up at the sight. "Fahf ahor goka aimgr'luhh. Mgah'ehye ya ph'nglui?" When Ina held out the book, Gawrgu'ra recoiled from it with wide eyes, fear causing her cruciform pupils to constrict vertically, leaving a horizontal line, like a prey animal. Ina immediately pulled to book back a bit, confusion filling her expression at the reaction to something the shorter girl clearly loved.
It was then that AO-chan spoke in her mind again, Gawrgu'ra seemingly being able to pick up on it with the way her sensory fins perked up and spread out. But also unable to actually hear them with how a longing whimper came from her, the liquid silver building in her eyes causing Ina's heart to ache. "T̷h̸o̵u̴g̸h̶ ̴s̵h̶e̸ ̸w̷a̸s̸ Ou̸r̸ ̷m̵o̵s̸t̵ ̴d̸e̵d̷i̷c̴a̶t̶e̵d̵ ̴a̶n̴d̷ ̶d̵e̸v̶o̶u̷t̷ ̵f̶o̵l̴l̶o̸w̶e̷r̸,̵ ̷t̷h̴o̷s̸e̷ ̸f̵e̶w̷ ̶a̴b̵o̶v̷e̷ ̸h̷e̷r̷ ̸w̷e̸r̵e̸ ̶j̸e̵a̴l̷o̵u̸s̴ ̷o̵f̴ ̴h̸e̴r̷ ̴l̷o̵v̸e̸ ̶a̶n̸d̸ ̸t̷h̵e̷ ̸f̴a̵v̶o̶r̵ ̶W̵e̶ ̶s̸h̸o̴w̷e̷d̴ ̸h̴e̴r̷.̷ ̴T̴h̴e̷ ̷G̵i̷f̶t̵s̷ ̶W̸e̸ ̵b̷e̸s̵t̵o̵w̷e̵d̵ ̷u̸p̶o̴n̷ ̴h̵e̵r̵.̸" Ina looked down, feeling a sense of comradery with the girl. AO-chan spoke again, a rare anger echoing in their chorus. "T̵h̴e̸y̵ ̶p̴o̷i̶s̸o̸n̷e̸d̵ ̷O̴u̷r̵ ̴c̴h̶i̵l̴d̷ ̸w̵i̶t̸h̴ ̶t̶h̸e̷i̸r̴ ̷h̵a̷t̸e̸,̷ ̸t̸h̷e̶y̷ ̸c̷l̷i̵p̸p̶e̶d̵ ̷h̴e̸r̶ ̸f̶i̴n̶s̷ ̵s̷o̴ ̶s̴h̴e̴ ̷w̷o̶u̸l̴d̶ ̶n̵e̷v̵e̶r̴ ̸r̷i̶s̵e̵ ̸a̶b̴o̸v̸e̴ ̷t̵h̵e̴m̶ ̶a̸n̶d̴ ̵l̶e̶f̴t̷ ̷h̷e̷r̷ ̵t̷o̸ ̵d̵r̷o̷w̶n̶ ̵a̵t̶ ̸t̵h̵e̸ ̷e̵n̴d̷.̷" Here their chorus shifted again, to a emotion Ina could not place. "T̷o̸ ̴s̵a̸v̸e̶ ̶O̵u̶r̶ ̴c̴h̸i̴l̵d̵ ̷w̸e̷ ̸i̴n̸t̶e̶n̸d̸e̵d̴ ̷t̶o̸ ̵c̶h̴a̶n̴g̴e̶ ̴h̷e̴r̸,̴ ̶l̸i̵k̷e̸ ̶y̸o̵u̴.̶ ̶H̷o̵w̵e̴v̶e̶r̸,̴ ̵h̵e̸r̴ ̴a̸f̶f̸i̶n̶i̵t̸y̶ ̷w̵a̸s̷ ̴s̵o̸ ̶g̵r̵e̶a̵t̵ ̷t̴h̴a̸t̷ ̴s̵h̵e̴ ̴d̶i̶d̵ ̵n̷o̶t̴ ̶j̶u̴s̴t̶ ̴c̸h̵a̸n̸g̸e̶.̵ ̴S̷h̸e̸ ̴h̴a̶d̴ ̷a̷n̶ ̶a̴s̴c̵e̵n̷s̷i̶o̷n̸,̸ ̷o̷f̵ ̴a̴ ̴k̶i̷n̷d̵.̷ ̶S̵h̶e̸ ̷i̸s̷ ̸a̸s̵ ̷c̷l̴o̵s̵e̷ ̷t̶o̷ ̸U̷s̶ ̶a̴s̷ ̶a̷n̷y̷ ̶m̴o̸r̵t̶a̴l̴ ̵c̸o̴u̵l̷d̵ ̸g̷e̶t̶.̶ Y̸e̷t̸ ̸s̸h̶e̷ ̶w̸i̴l̷l̸ ̷o̴n̶l̷y̸ ̵e̴v̴e̵r̵ ̴s̶e̷e̵ ̷h̸e̶r̴s̴e̶l̸f̸ ̵a̶s̶ ̵l̸e̸s̷s̵e̶r̶.̵"
With the newfound information Ina now had she looked upon the girl in a different light, her eyes gravitating to the clasp on her shawl, the symbol of a Priestess glinting in the moonlight clearly well-loved. So instead of offering the book, Ina held it out in one hand, and raised her other in prayer. Gawrgu'ra, seeing what Ina was doing, jumped down from the trident and flipped her cowl up, the enchantment casting an impenetrable shadow over her face as took up position. She raised her left hand in the air like Ina's then floated her right over the tome, hesitating only slightly, an obvious excitement at performing a ritual after who knows how long making her tail wag.
Ina took a moment to smile at the shorter priestess before she closed her eyes, AO-chan helping her create a transfer spell like Gargu'ra had done for her language. "Linguam, Anglice, Discere!" As Ina began to chant the words repeatedly, Amelia had managed to recover, thanks to Calli and Kiara getting her farther away from the two eldritch girls.
"How ya feelin' Ame?" Calli asked the girl. "Still got all your marbles, well, the few you had left miss time traveler?"
Amelia flipped the taller girl off as she leaned against Kiara, the Phoenix's warmth helping ward away the chill of night as she muttered. "Shut up Calli."
"Nah, but seriously, you good? All that Lovecraft nonsense can mess you humans up real bad." As Kiara nodded, still not trusting her throat to speak, Calli got closer, using a finger to lift one of Amelia's eyelids to see if she had changed in a way only she could tell.
"I'm fine Calli, shouldn't you be doting over your girlfriend?" Calli only rolled her eyes at Amelia's teasing before lightly punching her shoulder, the blonde dramatically rocking backwards.
The banter would have continued, If it wasn't for Ina's spell finishing, and sending a wave of spine-tingling energy over the three of them. Calli blinked once the spell had passed. "Why do I know how the meaning of pareidolia?"
One of Ina's pointed ears twitched, and she turned to the group with a sheepish expression. "Sorry girls, I didn't realize it would have that large of an area."
"It's fine Ina." Amelia spoke up, but what did you spell do other than raise Calli's IQ above room temp?"
As Calli sputtered in defiance against Amelia's teasing Ina went to explain, only to be beaten to the punch. "S̵h̵e̶ ̶t̷a̴u̶g̶h̸t̶ ̶m̶e̷ ̷y̷o̷u̵r̵ ̶l̸a̴n̵g̴u̴a̵g̵e̶,̶ ̶G̸u̶a̸r̴d̵i̵a̴n̷.̸" Everyone flinched again at the unnatural voice that rang out, all eyes turning toward Gawrgu'ra who had climbed back onto her trident, the flats of both her feet resting on the farthest tines of the trident allowing her to squat down above everyone as she lowered her cowl. "W̸h̸a̸t̷?"
"Hm, try using only your primary throat Gawrgu'ra." Ina advised, ignoring the averted eyes and blushes her friends were sporting at how shamelessly the smaller girl was sitting and staunchly keeping her eyes on Gawrgu'ra's face. "Most everyone only has one after all."
Gawrgu'ra nodded in understanding, closing her eyes to visualize what was being asked of her. "Is this better?" Seeing that nobody flinched, Gawrgu'ra allowed her impossible grin to split her face again, Kiara fully turning around herself and Amelia in response.
"So!" Calli clapped her hands, rubbing them together as she looked everywhere but at Gawrgu'ra. "Do you like, not wear clothes from wherever your from?"
Gawrgu'ra blinked, glancing down at her shawl as she pinched it. "But, I already am?"
"no I mean like, real clothes. Like ours!" Calli amended as she gestured to the rest of the gang. "Not to be a prude or anything, but prancing around completely buck-naked isn't exactly allowed."
Gawrgu'ra tilted her head, dropping her shawl from between her fingers. "But why would you wear clothes in the Ocean?"
Seeing that Calli was getting more and more exasperated with the priestess, Amelia took off her jacket and threw it at Gawrgu'ra, who snatched it out the air and held it out in front of her. Looking between it and Amelia she sniffed at it, recoiling at the smell of ozone and gunpowder that clung to it. "It smells... acrid."
Amelia gave a gasp of affront at her words, whirling around to point dramatically at the priestess, whose eyes turned to vertical slits as she tracked the finger in front of her. "Hey! Your the smelly one stinky! Just put it on already." Before Amelia could get any closer to losing her finger, Ina gently pulled her away from Gawrgu'ra, causing the girl's eyes to go back to their cruciform shape. After another moment of hesitation, Gawrgu'ra attempted to put the coat on, rumbling expletives in R'lyehian when she tried to find a comfortable position for her dorsal fin before abandoning the attempt altogether and just leaving a large lump in the back of the coat.
Gawrgu'ra, in a act of pettiness, used the claws on her feet to climb down the trident, holding her head in one position as her body twisted it's way down the weapon. Once she had reached the ground she slunk her way to Ina's side, the large coat making her look smaller than she was. Ina, for her part, wrapped her arm around the Priestess' shoulders, pointedly ignoring the loud gasp from Kiara at the action.
"Alright, so here's the plan ladies!" Amelia began to march down the hill, confidently pointing ahead as the rest followed at a steady pace. "They are most likely gonna hire me to investigate the break-in we caused, so I'm definitely gonna be M.I.A. for a while." She turned and began to walk backwards as she pointed at each girl in turn. "While I'm busy I'm gonna need you three to keep an ear out for any other 'cases' that crop up for us to take care of. As for our little tag-along," Amelia wisely avoided pointing at Gawrgu'ra, having seen the predatory look in her eyes when she was wagging it around. "You, are gonna need a better name." When her eyes began to bleed into that mind-numbing red, Amelia hastened to explain. "It's just practical! We can't keep calling you Gawrgu'ra all the time. you need something quick and easy to shout when we're in trouble."
Ina who had been mostly silent for a while, spoke up then. "Gura." When everybody turned to look at her she elaborated. "Like Ame said, Gawrgu'ra is too long to say quickly and none of us are great with coming up with names. So Why not use what we already have? We can split her name in two." The four of them turned to Gawrgu'ra, who was looking down, to see how she felt about the name. After a moment of contemplation, She turned to Ina and gave the High-Priestess the biggest grin she could muster. Calli, quick on the draw, forced Kiara and Amelia to look away. Ina, who was resistant to eldritch power, keep eye-contact with the now named Gura, and gave her a smile back.
Afterwards, when no-one was looking, Ina discreetly wiped her lips and looked down at it.
Her mouth was filled with blood.