she hopes i’m cursed forever // o + return

[valo-kas]

valo-kas had ceased to exist for a while and that was absolutely normal. for something like them, the bar of normalcy was already and constantly low and/or shimmering in and out of being, so this? this was fine. this was organic.

they landed with a wet plop into a puddle, mud rising and squelching between their toes as a shudder rattled their bones and brought forth a fresh wave of noxious pink slime to their quivering lips as they looked around. what. they had forgotten what they were doing. or maybe they hadn’t been doing anything at all, but their brain gnawed at the edges of an empty gap in their memory, last two braincells shrieking concern back and forth until the mutant’s whole train of thought was hoarse. this is fine. if they had been doing anything, it mustn’t’ve been important enough to remember. they weren’t pregnant or dead or dying so it wasn’t, like, a problem that this was happening.

maybe someone had just opened some kind of menu and paused their existence. dope. and frightening, but mostly dope. valo-kas slogged forward with a moist tune dripping out of their mouth, all the lyrics backward and wrong.

[VIGENERE CIPHER.]

[Morgan]

"Wait," Morgan hollered, leaping forward to block Vigenere. The mutant's presence was familiar to the samoyed, though it hadn't seen them in quite some time. "Valo-kas," it murmured, turning to them with wide eyes hidden by its mask. "It has been... long." Much had changed since they last saw each other - Vigenere's presence was a testament to that.

The dog sat down, looking back and forth between the two Tanglers. "This is Valo-kas, a Tangler," it said, motioning toward the dripping being as it introduced them. It motioned back toward the yellow feline to introduce him as well. "Valo, this is Vigenere. Also a Tangler."

[Bean]

[▷killian◁]

"Wow, you look fuckin' weird." Killian's head tilted to the side as he trotted up, ears swiveling back and head lowering as he tried to edge close enough to sniff the cat he'd never met. He was doing a lot of sniffing lately. Did that sludge stuff taste good? It looked like it did. The dog took a few steps back just to keep himself from actually eating the stuff. He took a few more steps to look at the feline from another angle. Weird.

"Morgan, how longs this dude.. Is it a dude? Whatever, how long have they been here? Can't believe I haven't seen them anywhere." The demon's cloudy eyes moved to look at Morgan as he spoke, then to Iota and Vigenere. There always seemed to be a group of them wherever something was happening. Kinda weird.

"SPEECH"

▼o・ェ・o▼

[valo-kas]

valo-kas stared with their mouth agape at vigenere. i am being threatened. they blinked, buffering. “[color=salmon]s- uuhhhh...are you like on. fuckin’. are you on drugs? smokin’ crack? is it crack is that what- wh, like, what you’re smoking?” they squinted two fluorescent eyes and the third one blinked rapidly before rolling in it’s socket. “[color=salmon]i live here, dude.” they added sourly, as if it was perfectly reasonable to expect a total stranger to know that.

the mutant perked up when morgan arrived. something familiar. at least they had that. “[color=salmon]jeepers, you’re verbose.” they observed, thrusting themself into morgan’s space and taking a long, gargling sniff. “[color=salmon]buuut yeah, uh, vi- fuck i’m gonna call you vinny is that cool? yeah it is. i’m cool here. no need to be a tough guy.” they stuck their goo-coated tongue out and wagged it tauntingly at vigenere, stepping out of morgan’s zone and circling to scrutinize iota.

“[color=salmon]hi yoda.” they snorted wetly, lips peeling back into a grimace at the words veteran clan member. made them sound old, made them itch under the skin. i’ll never have anything on some of the ancient bastards ‘round here though. it was comforting enough to be reminded of that. “[color=salmon]good to meet a. uh. noob, i guess.” man...fuck pleasantries. they were getting antsy.

both of valo’s ears flattened at killian’s approach and subsequent observation. of all the descriptors in our lexicon, why is it always ‘weird’? to be fair, there was hardly a more accurate label for them, but they were still determined to muster a twinge of exasperation. one of these days, some handsome hunk of meat is gonna recognize me as an equally handsome hunk of meat and then ya’ll’ll see. they barked out a noisy laugh at that, squinting at killian.

“[color=salmon]you’re, uuhh, so fucking observant. i’m, like, wow. i’ve just. been here. who the hell cares how long. i’m here again now and that’s the way this cookie’s crumbling, jackass.” they declared hotly, bubbling at the mouth. “[color=salmon]if it’s a problem, die mad about it.”

[VIGENERE CIPHER.]

[Nayru]

[color=#6b7e99]✦ ✦ ✦

Had she met Valo-kas before? Maybe once right after she joined but admittedly, the small medic didn't recall. Her mind was a little scrambled anyways, mostly concerned about her too-large supply of herbs and the baby gator that was probably relaxing in her home this very moment. After deciding to take the thing in and train it, the only plausible place for it to go was home with her - much to her chagrin - and she worried endlessly about what sort of trouble it could be causing.

She extended a smile in their direction though, her cerulean gaze elsewhere. She should bring back some food for her alligator... feeding it was just as important as studyi- oh, right. She needed to stop getting distracted. Blinking, Nayru would finally return to reality. [b][color=#6b7e99]"Welcome back," She offered, [color=#6b7e99]"I'm Nayru, if you don't remember." A very possible outcome seeing as she could hardly recollect their face. It didn't really matter to the medic if she was remembered or not, in fact she halfway preferred the latter.

[Morgan]

Morgan let the top half of its mask melt to expose its eyes. With a genuine look of appreciation it nodded at Vigenere's brief apology. Its yellow comrade meant no harm and could not have known about Valo anyway, so the samoyed's forgiveness came quickly and easily.

The canine Proxy responded to Killian next, though slightly late since it had to reform its mask. "Valo-kas was here since the start," it said, gesturing toward the mutant.

Upon Nayru's introduction, it added, "Nayru is the medic. Important, Valo." As she was one of only two Tanglers equal in rank to the dog, it felt the need to mention her title.

[Luciferr]

FENRISULFR

▼ — when the weak court death, they find it.

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"Welcome back Valo" the war wolf rumbled, joining the group finally - he remebered the pink drooler from when he'd first joined what felt like an eon ago now - hm, time sure flew and yet felt too fleeting sometimes - Fenris inclined his head to the returning Tangler, stopping beside Morgan and shifting to sit comfortably with a nod to Vigenere "No harm, no foul - you hadn't been informed of tanglers past after all"

space

▲ — TANGLEWOOD. PROXY. EXTREME. REF (9FT). BIO. — ▲

#psychosocial.