psychoshenanigans | GRATIA // PSL

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GRATIA // PSL

The first thing he feels is the cold.

It permeates everything down here on the lower levels. What little warmth humans have made for themselves is greedily gobbled up by the stone walls that surround them on all sides. Despite the stirring of people in the streets, in their homes, and around corners, this place feels like a grave. A similar sense seems to loom over the heads of most who make their way through this deep, dark part of the world, hovering around them like a cloud of inevitability. No one has been outright sentenced to death, but they may as well be.

Upon waking, Tek will have found himself in a dark, wet alleyway. Attempts to orient himself reveal that he has been brought, somehow, to an impressively large network of tunnels that all lead, more or less, to three or four larger chambers. There is far more vibrant life above him somewhere, far, far above the layer of caves he's in now, and there is also a very deep, sluggish form of life somewhere far below his feet.

No one is coming to get him. No one follows him in his immediate vicinity--the few stragglers hanging around doorsteps and windows don't give him a second glance, or even a first one. The place is crowded, but not busy. Everyone keeps their heads down. The people are all dressed poorly, in rags and robes and bundles that suggest a certain level of consistent poverty all throughout the level. The buildings in these tunnels look man-made, either built from scrap or carved straight out of the rock of the cave, but the majority of the actual roads and cave walls seem to have been formed with very little help from human hands.

The place is lit with lanterns and dirty-looking florescents suspended high above in the cave ceiling. The air is thick and stuffy, the smell of mold and mud prevalent over even the smell of human stagnation. It would not be hard to drag someone off, and he gets the immediate feeling that if he did, it's unlikely that anyone would come looking for them.

What does he do?

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[between the call of this forest's naturally-seething energy, and the way that Tek's own energy has already been hungry and volatile lately, the two forces have been invisibly reacting to one another since the upper floor of the cave. Tek's eyes were already too-bright because of whatever imbalance had been going on inside, but now they are gleaming. and he's been (uncharacteristically) quiet for most of the trip. some combination of his focus being drawn and far away from his place in physical space and the way that he's concentrating on trying to keep himself in check has made for a rather somber walk.

he's beginning to get antsy though, now that they're starting to truly surround themselves in forest. there is so much energy that grates against his own here, but all wild places are just as much death as they are life. there are decaying things all around them, packed in layers under their feet, and Tek has been starved of it for too long.

it's a good thing that there aren't many beings in their immediate vicinity who can feel that sort of thing, because Tek's energy is leaking everywhere.

Tek is almost hurrying Robin along with the way that he's sort of crowding him while they pick their way through the brush. his gaze is focused far forward as he moves over the roots and uneven ground as easily as if it had all been part of his own body. he moves like he's hunting and is concerned that his prey might escape if they don't hurry.

he at least tries on a smile, though.]

Forests love me. It'll be fine.

[it probably will be fine. he keeps telling himself that as they pass between thick, old tree trunks, and as they duck under low-hanging tangles. every once in a while he reaches out to touch something as he passes, seemingly gleaming some information from it that has him adjust their course slightly in one direction or another.

eventually, the trees get thinner, younger. more wildflowers and greenery spring from softer ground underneath them. small signs of an old fire are still here--sooty marks on the couple of older trees that withstood the blaze, downed logs that are more charcoal than anything, largely decayed and reclaimed by fungus and ivy and sprouting new life in their remains.

poetic, but more importantly, a little easier to walk around in. he doesn't know how much room Tek needs for this, but it seems like more is better.]

[as soon as Tek takes in the change of scenery--all the open space, enough room in the canopy to let substantial patches of light down to the flowers and grasses of the floor--he speeds up. nudging past robin and forging ahead with purpose, Tek heads for the center of the clearing as if it'd been what he'd been distantly focused on the entire time.

he doesn't notice whether Robin is following or not. he sends one or two cursory glances toward the opposite edges of the clearing as he walks out toward the middle of it, but it's probably more to judge distance than to watch for any sort of threat.

nothing else has happened yet, but the energy is already changing. the air is charging up, something invisible bending toward a breaking point, like a giant held breath beginning to suffocate. even if his eyes had been closed, Robin would have been able to tell that some big shift was seconds (at most) away from triggering.]

[the demigod does not follow him, once the other charges ahead. whether he feels the change, or whether simply wants to give Tek some space during whatever is about to happen, he shifts to walking the vague perimeter of their clearing.

he falls easily into his usual role. in the underground, it's looking for snipers. up here, it's looking for scouts who might run back to the pack. he thinks they're alone, but it's a little hard to tell a person from a deer or a nest of birds or a gang of rodents scurrying close to the ground.]

[it might help that right before the shift, all of the living things begin to move away. the birds don't burst into the sky in a panic, there are no alarm calls, but all of the wildlife does begin to make a fairly swift retreat from the area.

then, the instant that Tek reaches what he judges to be the center of the clearing, he breaks apart. it's all one quick, disorienting moment--his physical form snaps into light, the air pressure warps as reality bends in two different directions, and some other plane briefly makes contact with this one. Robin has felt the same phenomenon a few other, much more unpleasant times in the past, but almost all of them had been on a much smaller scale. all that cosmic tension rushes out through the break, and the clearing is filled with a violently twisting wave of light and energy for nearly a full second's worth of time.

it probably would have been much less dramatic if Tek had shifted at all in the last couple of months. instead, a shockwave of elemental death ripples out from the center of the clearing, reducing most of the wildflowers and soft grasses to shriveling, grey stems in an instant. the sensation of it rolls on through the trees, the primal feeling of horror and decay, probably touching every living creature around for a mile or two.

it takes another second for everything to settle. light is suddenly replaced by shadow as the raw energy solidifies into matter, a massive body now blocking out most of the sunlight.

he forms sort of curled up, an enormous mountain of scales and spikes hunched down and turned away from where Robin happens to be standing. but as soon as he feels solid ground under solid feet, wings that nearly reach from one end of the clearing to the other flap open and shred the smaller branches on either side of him from their trunks.]

[well, he was looking out for danger--but when Tek finally shifts, he stops in his tracks, entire body tensing up against a sudden wave of horror and nausea and very, very bad memories that come back clearer than they could have been if he tried to remember them.

the forest itself does better than he does. despite its power and disposition for violently devouring things, the sudden ripple of death means very little to it. the trees groan in the initial shock-wave, leaning gently away as if caught in a powerful wind... but they sway back upright soon enough, unbothered by the massive creature shredding their younger brethren.

when Robin finally takes a breath, registers what he's seeing, he doesn't have anything to say. he stands where he is and stares up at Tek's massive, scaled form, watching him move as it slowly dawns on him that this is already much, much bigger than he'd expected.]

[once he shrugs himself enough room to feel a little less immediately claustrophobic between the trees, the big old monster slithers around in place, bringing his head around until he can spot Robin at the edge of the clearing.

and even with how monstrous and unreadible his reptilian face is, this body so far different in every possible way from the one that Robin knows, there is this indefinable sense that this creature is more 'Tek' than any face that Robin has met previously.

there's no mask on this one. there's no percentage of his soul stashed somewhere else. this is him in his entirety, and it's inexplicably familiar. there are little things that seem very him, like the snaky way that his head tilts and the eyes that glow the same color as the ones that Robin knows, but it feels much bigger than that.

there's the weird sense that if there was a whole lineup of giant hideous dragon-monsters in front of him, he would be able to identify this one as Tek immediately.]

[it's a funny feeling, the innate understanding that this is more of Tek than he's ever seen before in his life. it's comforting, in a way. it helps the feelings of fear dissolve away into other things. and most importantly, it gives Robin a little more room to think.

and when he has room to think, he has room to be obnoxious.]

--Have you been this big the whole time??

[shouted loudly and indignantly by the tiny man at the edge of the clearing towards the giant, scale-covered monster.]

[the "very Tek" feeling about the monster continues as he hangs his mouth open a little and his eyes slide to thin, glowing slits. Robin had grown to learn (mostly from Scaley) that the expression is pretty much the dragon equivalent of a smile, but he wouldn't need that previous experience to make the guess here. the image of Tek smirking is very easy to imagine in the moment.

it's a short-lived expression, however. as funny as the dragon might find Robin's reaction, it's not enough to get him to settle down. he's still agitated to his very bones, volatile energy still clinging all over him like static electricity, and he needs to get away.

so, Robin barely has another moment to adjust to his friend's enormous form, before the dragon continues his circle-in-place--turning until he's facing away from Robin again and has staked out enough room around himself to move. then, with a cacophanous flurry of motion (seemingly much too fast for a creature of that size to be allowed to move) he launches himself into the air and up through the broken canopy of leaves. there isn't much space, relatively speaking, but the rounded shape of his wings propel him up and out of the forest's reach in a few powerful beats.

it happens absurdly fast. one minute, there's a monster taking up the entire clearing... and the next, there is a crash of motion and air, and there's nothing left in the clearing but a shower of leaves and broken branches, and a patch of withering wasteland on the floor.]

[and Robin is left standing, suddenly alone, as the last of the leaves disturbed by the dragon settle in the silence around him.]

...aaand he's gone.

[boy, he sure hopes that Tek... comes back. not that it's like him to get crabby and then disappear for months at a time with no warning. forget being noticed by other people, now Robin just hopes that his friend doesn't just make a beeline for the wasteland.

he lets out a heavy sigh. the trees around him remain apathetic to his plight. since it's the only thing he can think to do, he jumps up towards a nearby branch and starts climbing, hoping to break past the canopy and at least see if Tek has headed in a direction.]

[once Robin clambers up to a good perch, up in the arms of a tree taller than most of the others around this area, he has a good view of the surrounding sky... and--alarmingly--not of Tek. scanning around toward wherever horizons might be visible shows absolutely no signs of a massive dragon flying over the treetops.

it won't be until Robin gets to where he can look straight up that he'll be able to spot him.

as if the dragon is trying to test if there is a ceiling on this world, he's spiraling up and up from where he'd broken the canopy, climbing as high as he can. and really, it's kind of a strange sight. Tek's dragon shape isn't as aerodynamic as one would maybe expect, and he has to do much more flapping than gliding to gain altitude with his rounded wings. if he'd been a bird, he wouldn't be the sort that flies straight for the highest heights. but it looks like he is not letting that stop him, and he continues to expend energy in climbing as high as he can go.]

[it does take him a moment to think of looking up. when he does, there isn't much he can think to do aside from hunker down between a branch and the trunk and wait for the dragon to eventually come back down again.

he supposes that's one way to avoid being seen. no one's going to go looking that high. he has a feeling--assuming Tek intends on returning--that the dragon's re-entrance is going to be a dramatic one.]

[Tek's descent is destined to be a dramatic one if only for the fact that he does find his limits up there. it's hard to see at that distance, even without the sun beaming down overhead yet, but there does seem to be a wobble in the dragon's flight. he either runs out of speed or runs into thin air devoid of updrafts, and his slowing trajectory eventually stalls out.

on the return, he manages to pull his flight into wide circles, stretching his wings out to their limits to effectively glide... but controlling descent at high speeds is not exactly his forte.

when his circling brings him down close to the trees again, it's to careen haphazardly across the tops of them, grazing leaves and twigs off in his wake. he is very lucky that he doesn't catch more than a few small branches from Robin's tree as he swoops past. it sounds much worse than it actually is, scales and spikes crashing across the tree and making it sway with the glancing blow.

he manages to level out right after. he pushes himself with powerful wingbeats to stay aloft just above the canopy, swooping in a continued arc to the side until he finally begins to climb again. just enough chaos to be dangerous, before he settles into a steadier orbit--going half a mile out, but then turning back, just circling the area.]

[oh, Robin knows long before he does it that Tek is going to scrape up against his tree. it isn't even a calculation based on trajectory or anything, he just knows Tek, and while it's startling to feel his perch shift as something taller than a freight train slams past it, he isn't the least bit surprised.

any glancing scrapes from the branches around him will be gone in seconds, so he shrugs off the offending damage and finds a higher perch. the view is pretty good, now that some of the branches have been snapped off.

Tek can just hear him call out,] You're an asshole...! [one of the times that he circles back.]

[Tek either has exceptional hearing as a giant reptilian creature, or it's entirely by coincidence that he seems to answer after Robin shouts at him. a hiss and open-mouthed rumble as he swoops away, deep enough to reverberate through the tree branches, and he tosses his head a little.

he beats his wings to pick up speed for the next lap, and it is actually going fast enough that the loop past the tree is a much wider one--swinging out to the side, bracing his wings to use the momentum to continue to gather speed as he zooms around.

then, once he reaches the far point across the wide loop, he pivots his wings suddenly, which wheels him around in a surprisingly sharp turn... to head him back in the direction of Robin's perch, but now almost straight-on, still preserving a lot of that speed as he rockets forward.

by this new trajectory, he's either going to slam into the tree head-on, or it's going to be damn close.]

[oh, he thinks this is funny. he fucking knew it.

he wants to be mad, because this is both stupid and dangerous... but as he readies for impact, he's got a smirk on his face. can he really blame Tek for having a little fun, after being cooped up in the Underground for so long? with a body that big, it's got to feel good to stretch and fly and exist as he really is.

so he's ready for him when his massive form comes rocketing within feet of him, and jumps--absurdly high, of course, his puny shell propelled skyward with more speed and unnecessary cool-looking flips than any human has the right to have.

but now he's just a flying target, so there's that.]

[--well! the glow of the dragon's eyes widen in surprise as its target suddenly pops up high into the air, safely above the area of impact. he's going too fast to stop and make a tight turn--not without throwing off his flight and smashing into the trees, anyway--so he carries on exactly as he'd first intended to.

which means he pulls in his wings and rotates his body enough to not slam into the trunk of the tree, but he does rake his claws through the branches that had just been serving as Robin's perch. and then, the one small alteration to his original plan is that once he opens his wings again, steadying himself from the impact and picking up speed again... he lashes his forked tail just before he passes the tree completely.

his pair of tails and all of the stringy spikes hanging off the ends act like a flail, snapping to the side and shredding through the top of the tree. Robin might have been able to easily leap into the air like a bird, but he might not be able to land like one now.]

[normally, when Robin pulls these kinds of stunts, he pulls them with the intent of grabbing something up above, or smashing back down onto the back of whatever it is that's attacking him. now, though, he straightens out to the sound of something getting turned to splinters. it takes about the time of his momentum changing from up to down for him to realize what's happened.

on the way back down, Tek hears,] You're still an asshole...!

[before a couple of clumsy-sounding thuds as Robin makes a less-than-ideal landing through a half-broken branch before finally managing to grab something more solid underneath it. he hauls himself back up, winded, lucky that he didn't get impaled on something on the way down.]

[this time, the growl that shakes the air sounds much more like a laugh. at least he's having fun.

Robin gets a moment to breathe before a shadow darkens his landing place, accompanied by a rush of wind, as the dragon swoops by again. there's no immediate violence this time--Tek is either giving him a break or recalibrating his trajectory.

and right after he passes, a bark of monstrous voice calls back toward the wreckage of the tree, rolling into a staggered hiss right afterward. it's hard to make out the words through differences in dialect and vocal form (there's a big difference between how syllables are formed with a human mouth and a draconic one) but it almost sounds like Tek is asking Robin if he's sleeping.]

[how very kind of him. the demigod frowns as the shadow of the other's monstrous form passes over him, but remains relatively unbothered by this whole thing--both glad that Tek seems to be enjoying himself, and glad that he still has the capacity to enjoy anything at all, unlike the one he knew from that Other Place.

he perks up some when he hears language. sits up from his new perch, listening intently--and it takes him a moment, but Tek does get another shout in return.]

What, you think I'm taking a nap up here...? [he sounds annoyed, but in the way Robin usually sounds annoyed with Tek, which isn't much more than a surface irritation.] Why don't you come over here and say that to my face, huh?

[yeah, he's having fun. high on the rush of being free from limitations--no ceiling above him, no little crowded body trapping him to the ground--he is enthusiastically involved in this impromptu game.

and he hears that. only a few moments after Robin's reply, the shadow suddenly returns. this time, it arrives with a torrent of wind as the dragon sweeps around the tree, beating his wings to keep him aloft as he slows down and zooms in for a better look.

the branches all shake as a dragon practically parks on top of the half-busted tree, neck snaking around to look for Robin, hunting for where exactly he might be perching. it's a menacing move, but he can only stay there long enough to spot his prey, since he can't truly hover in place. he can only linger there for a few seconds, treading air, before he needs to swoop away and build up momentum again.]

--Jeez. [Robin remarks as Tek's giant head comes into view in front of him. it's a little startling, even if he asked for it. the Leviathan is this big, if not bigger, but that thing moves slowly and is restricted to its underground prison. he'll have to keep reminding himself that Tek is a lot faster than he looks.

now, as Tek flies away again, Robin will have to actually... think of a plan...]

[well, Robin's plan isn't "run away immediately," so he's still there when Tek circles around for a another pass.

this time, Tek doesn't waste time looking for him--he's going right for where he last left Robin, hoping to catch him before he moves. so, unless Robin comes up with something fast, he'll be right in harm's way when the dragon swoops up again.

this time, a set of talons reach out to hook onto the tree somewhere above Robin's head, so that the dragon can steady himself and hover there for even longer without having to worry about falling... and then he can shove his face into the branches to try snapping at his prey.]

[he knows that he has to go somewhere. down seems like cheating. up didn't work so well for him last time. there's sideways, but here are a few problems with that, mainly having to do with teeth and spikes.

when the dragon is basically on top of him and he doesn't have any more time to think, he drops the strategy and does what he arguably does best--making it up as he goes. faced with gnashing teeth, he springs upward and tries to grab onto those limbs now hooked onto the tree above him. he hopes he can get enough purchase on one side to haul himself up and cling on like an obnoxious tick.]

[lucky for Robin, Tek's variety of dragon is pretty much the most climbable of them all. with plenty of spikes and knobs and stringy bits to grab onto, it's not much different than climbing a scaly tree.

until it starts moving, of course.

the easiest thing for Tek to do would obviously be to not go anywhere and just bite Robin off of his arm. but he's so caught off guard by the feeling of something clinging onto him that he pulls away from the tree in surprise... taking Robin with him.

and without the tree to serve as an anchor, his hovering time is quickly running out again. he only has a few seconds before he has to start flying in a direction, so he does the first thing that comes to mind--try to fling Robin off of his arm before he can climb much higher.]

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