Disguised as a Friend|Malagard | Khelek

[Darastrix]

~Okay,~ Schuldig sent to them both. ~We'll be there soon, then.~


Nagi was up and pacing in room when Filly arrived, though he stopped when he saw her. ~She's been biting her fingers in her sleep,~ he told her, not wanting to wake Locket by speaking aloud. ~Not hard, but it's not something she does usually.~

[Kender Bard]

Filly frowned, walked over, and pulled a finger out of Locket's mouth, observing the teeth marks. ~Might be a side effect of whatever is going on~ Filly hazarded.

Locket smiled and sighed in her sleep. She seemed fairly happy. ~I can't imagine why, but it's worth noting. Schuldig and Mikasi are going to be coming here, but Schuldig needs your help in making the trip speedily. I can stay in here and keep Locket from chewing on herself while you go get them.~

[Darastrix]

Nagi nodded. ~Schuldig told me. I was just waiting on you to come before I left. I'll be right back.~ With that, he touched his signs together and disappeared, jumping to Sensatia with the aid of his ring.


A few moments later, he reappeared with Schuldig and Mikasi, hugging tightly onto the former for comfort.

~You wanna take a look first?~ Schuldig asked Mikasi as he rubbed Nagi's back. ~Or should we go in together?~

[Kender Bard]

~Together~ Mikasi said. ~She's an unfamiliar mind, and I'd like the guidance.~

~Does she need to be awake?~ Filly asked, pulling a finger back out of Locket's mouth.

Mikasi shook his head. ~No, we just need to be mindful that we don't get confused by her dreams. They might be a bit of a distraction, or they could help. I'm not a Dreamwalker so my knowledge on the subject is limited. Let's go in and we can wake her up if we need to.~

[Darastrix]

Schuldig nodded. ~We're both going in, kiddo. Anything else you can tell us?~

Nagi pulled away and looked back at Locket. ~Her mind feels wrong, not nice and cozy like it normally does. And the statue of Soahc looks like he's trying to keep something away instead of like he wants to hug you. If you touch it, it feels better.~

Schuldig arched a brow at that and looked up. ~I don't suppose you have anything to say about this.~ He didn't expect an answer, and looked at Mikasi right after. ~Already this sounds weird,~ he said privately.

[Kender Bard]

Mikasi simply nodded, touched his sign, and sank into Locket's mind. Immediately he was assaulted by...

Pleasure?

It wasn't too strong or overpowering, but he could certainly feel it. It felt like a mind after he'd finished soothing it and the pleasure was beginning to fade. However, underneath that he could sense something... Something wrong. It was like sugar coating poison. His stomach churned slightly at that.

There were dreams too, but they were very nebulous and flashing things. Her memories were excited into moving around randomly as dreams called up on them. But like how when she was awake, memories seemed to slide away, so too did they here and it caused the shifting dreams to jump around in as chaotic a frenzy as Schuldig's mind. Moreso, perhaps, as there was little connecting them in the way of theme. Mikasi noted the statue and walked over to it, touching it. As Nagi predicted, the wrong-feeling slid away, but so did much of the pleasure.

[Darastrix]

~Mmm,~ Schuldig murmured as he slipped into Locket's mind after Mikasi. Then a beat later, ~Ew. Think this is new or related to her being asleep?~ he asked Mikasi as he moved toward the statue. ~Nagi didn't say anything about her mind feeling good on the surface.~

[Kender Bard]

~Not sure, but it seems tied in with this feeling pervading her mind. I have to admit, I've never felt anything like it. But it's interesting that this statue helps. If it represents her faith, then perhaps she's having a crisis of faith? Still, that doesn't explain the odd behavior or the sickly feeling being found in here. I would swear she was drugged or poisoned or both.~

Locket managed to bring a knuckle up to her mouth and bite down again before Filly can pull it away. A fresh wave of pleasure rippled through her mind.

~I didn't see anything different~ Mikasi reports when he senses the change.

Filly, listening in mentally a bit, supplies, ~She just bit herself again.~

[Darastrix]

~I can't imagine what'd make Locket have a crisis of faith,~ Schuldig told Mikasi. ~At worst, she's just a little jealous that Soahc visited me again a few months ago.~

At Filly's comment after the sense of pleasure, Schuldig frowned. Nagi was gonna love this. ~Nagi, this question is actually relevant. Does Locket normally get off on pain?~

Nagi blushed and sputtered a little. ~What? No! She likes--no that part is not relevant.~

Schuldig chuckled at that. ~Okay, so what we have is a screwed-up mindscape, a symbol of faith that clears things up if you touch it, unexplained masochism, and being out of it while awake.~ He ran a hand back through his hair and leaned against the statue. ~What the holy fucking Soahc is this? I mean, if you're worried about poison, we can ask Lucifer, but I really can't imagine a poison that has an effect that fades when you touch something in somebody's mind. That makes ten kinds of no fucking sense.~

[Kender Bard]

~I am confused beyond anything as well~ Mikasi agreed. ~At this point I'd be tempted to say that she is Touched. That something happened to damage her mind. Did she take a blow-~

~No~ Filly cut in. ~I've ruled out all reasonable health-related explanations. She didn't get a blow to the head, she's not physically ill. We're ruling out poison and she says she didn't take a drug; and I agree. So that narrows it down a little. The only thing I have left to suggest is she's contracted a disease that affects the mind.~

~Disease or Touched are all I can think of as well~ Mikasi agreed. ~I don't think I've ever encountered this feeling in a mind before, though. And I've been in some very ill, damaged minds before. It's also very possible that what we're seeing here are symptoms from multiple problems. That'd make it extremely hard to properly narrow down our options. It might be that this feeling in here and the faith-statue clearing it up are one thing and the spacing out and sudden pleasure-pain reaction are part of another problem entirely. The former sounds like something that might be self-inflicted, the latter sounds like what we've proposed.~

[Darastrix]

~She isn't Touched,~ Nagi said firmly. ~When I was in there before and noticed that the statue looked like it was keeping something back, I asked if she knew what he could be warding against. She was having trouble concentrating, but she remembered a Touched priest she knew and almost panicked thinking she might be Touched. And if she were, wouldn't something Soahc-related make it seem worse?~

His wife wasn't Touched. She couldn't be.


If she's Touched, you and I are having fucking words, Schuldig thought at Soahc. The words would likely be multiple variations of 'FUCK YOU' while Soahc said nothing, but words would be had nonetheless.

~We can try to talk to Locket,~ Schuldig said after a moment. ~Bring her into her own mindspace and put the projection of her self in contact with the statue to see if that clears things up for her any.~

[Kender Bard]

~That's a good idea~ Mikasi agreed. ~Filly, rouse her a little so we have an awareness to latch on to in here.~

Filly reached over and shook Locket gently. Locket woke with a slight gasp, blinking. Huhwhat?

Mikasi reached for her mind and tried to draw her deeper into her own mindscape, gently. Locket came willingly; it easier to do since she'd begun to play in her mind and Nagi's, though she needed another Mind to get her to that place.

She formed in her own Mindscape, looking as she did in real life, if a little sick looking, as if she were physically ill after all. The wrongness in her mind seemed to distress her though. Her mind reacted with a violent shudder, sending the mindscape shivering. What's wrong with me!? Her mind-projection looked all around with wide, frightened eyes. Memories swirled around her--she tried to grab onto a golden one for comfort and it slid out from under her fingers.

"Over here, Locket," Mikasi ordered in a firm but calm voice, gesturing to the statue. Locket practically flung herself at it, though in order to reach that part of her mindscape she had to pray or at least enter a religious mindset. Fortunately, it didn't need to be anything complicated. "OhSoahcohSoahcohSoahc," she chanted, clinging to the statue. The mindscape settled and became a little less tainted to feel. Locket sighed in relief, mentally and physically.

[Darastrix]

~Not Touched,~ Schuldig said privately to the other Minds as he moved to hug her from behind so she could keep hanging onto the statue. He'd never dealt much with the Touched, but this kind of thing just didn't seem to fit with being Touched. It'd make more sense to him for this to happen to a Touched Thuothan.

"Feeling a little better now?" he asked, resting his chin on top of her head.

[Kender Bard]

"Yes," she sighed. But now she was distracted, thinking of Schuldig. She started letting go of the statue and turned to cling onto him instead. The sensation returned, back in full strength. She shivered.

Mikasi rubbed his chin. "Keep touching the statue."

"I can't indefinitely," she protested, but reached out a hand to touch it again as she pictured Schuldig in his priestly robes. "I need to be praying or thinking of Soahc or something like that."

"Can you talk to Soahc here?" Mikasi asked.

Locket raised a brow. "I talk to him sometimes. That's what prayer is isn't it? But he doesn't talk back. Not unless it's something I've remembered him saying." Though this summoned some golden memories which hung obediently near her.

"Your memory seems to have improved," Mikasi noted. "Perhaps it is your faith after all. It's hard to say."

Locket touched one of the glowing balls of light and the statue moved slightly, smiled, and uttered, "I’ve done more for you than you realize."

"Maybe," she murmured. "It wouldn't be the first time it's seen me through troubled moments in life. But I'm not even sure what's going on. I know that there's something wrong with me, but even being clear-headed isn't helping me to figure out what it is. I just feel like nothing in my mind can stick long enough for me to form an actual thought."

At least this busted the Touched theory. And disease. But now they were back to scratching their heads.

"You'd better ask me whatever you can while I'm rational," Locket warned, her fingertips sliding down the statue. "It's hard to hold my concentration on Soahc like this when I have so many other things I'm trying to think about at the same time."

[Darastrix]

"I might try bringing you into my mind and tossing you on altar later," Schuldig suggested. "You'd probably think you were in Flux. For now, listen to this when you start to slip." As he'd done once at a UN meeting, he split his attention visibly, one copy of himself stepping to Locket's other side to murmur random bits from the Scrolls of Anarchy into her ear.

"I guess the first question would be whether anything strange has happened in the past few days."