"Ny...nyaaa...?" The soft little groan from Meera, and the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, marked at least a little bit of life in the aching catgirl's body. She'd pretty much collapsed exactly where she'd been in the trench - pressed against the eastern wall, with Anastasia (Whom had fallen atop her), still clutched tightly in her arms "Oooowwwie...my head..." Well, she was alive, at least. Anastasia, spread out across the larger catgirl's stomach and chest, also stirs at about the same time - right when Alura begins to call out her name. And Veira's name. Strangely enough, though she could not SEE the catgirl, she could..'feel' her, in a way that was almost intimate. Just as she could feel the soft, smooth skin beneath her fingertips when she'd stroked the catgirl's belly just a few moments earlier, she could still FEEL her, still SENSE her, like an electric charge at the edges of her senses. More than that, though, she could hear her - clearly - in her head.<br/><br/>~Fairy? I can't see, where am I?!~<br/><br/>"Mm? Ouuugghhhh...what happened? My head hurts...bleeergh..." Grumbling with displeasure, the sore fae protests slightly when Alura lifts her, only to finally seem to come to her senses a little bit more, her eyes opening and alighting upon her sister's "Alura? Oooh, owie....what even was that? First, it was oni, then it was kitty, then fighting and painfulness and...mmph." Clearly a little weakened, Anastasia finally lifts her arms just enough to slip them around her older sister's middle, snuggling her head into the crook of her neck "Im okie. Yes, I still have berries - Thygor didn't want them. Silly lizard man." For that matter. Thygor had not reappeared - was he still stuck in the 'other world', or did he return to this one, perhaps up on the surface away from the shack a little distance? It was difficult to tell.<br/><br/>The pro-offered berry is readily accepted by Anastasia, who happily curls her tongue around it and draws it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Murmuring around a mouthful, she peers down at Meera still laying on her back on the cool, partially-soil cellar floor "Meeraaa? You okay? Eee, I landed on you...sorry!" Swallowing her berry, Anatasia scampers off the downed catgirl, giving Alura ample opportunity to slide in and murmur her little desire for 'kitty snugs'.<br/><br/>This, at least, seems to get SOME reaction out of the catgirl, who groans and  - shifting about - finally sets up "Ergh...owie. Hungry and headachy and thirsty and tiiiiiiiiired. I don't like this place anymore. Not at all." Still grumbling under her breath, Meera clambers to her feet, the normally bouncy catgirl quite sullen. At least until Cyria casts her 'dancing lights'.<br/><br/>The sudden light seems to at least marginally improve the catgirl's humors,  her ears perking up atop her head as she eyes the handful of small ,glowing lights that swirled and danced in the air before her "Ooo, pretty....ooogh, makes the headache worse thouuuuugh...!" At Cyria's direction, the lights swirl their way up the stairs and out into the open though the front door, once more plunging the cellar into shadowy light at best. As the duo get up and begin following Alura up the stairs, Sasara's cries of delight and need for Disa's presence of course immediately draws their attention - something Alura is quick to shut down.<br/><br/>"Eep! Okie!" Meera exclaims, covering her eyes with both hands...though it's easy to tell she has one of her fingers spread just enough she could peek through to see what, exactly, Johan was doing to Sasara.Anastasia, on the other hand, simply whines "Awww, I wanna seeee! What're they doing? I bet it's dirty things! Gasp! Meera, don't look! " Over the din, it the fae can clearly be heard muttering thereafter "...I wanna know everything later...okay, kitty?"<br/><br/>With that, the trio ascend the stairs and step outside. It appears a couple of hours had passed - the sun hung low in the sky, throwing long rays of beautiful yellowish light across the land, and equally as long shadows from the trees some couple of hundred feet in the distance. Settled in about fifty feet away from the cabin is the rest of the group - Naji, Alyx, Chyrsanthemum, and Anya, and intermixed with them is the figures of the opposing mercenary company, most of them bound with their arms behind their backs, but otherwise unimpeded. Yumina is seated a little further away, her arms crossed firmly over her chest and decidedly NOT bound, and the challenging look on her face directed towards the flustered drow Naji, pretty much says 'just try it'.<br/><br/>Even the Wilf elf had been dragged outside, and seemingly bound - now, she lay on her side in a little clearing just beside Alyx, still squirming and shouting something into her gag, but nothing that is very audible.<br/><br/>The three' appearance instantly has Naji on her feet, squinting in their direction "Yo..You're back?! BOUT DAMN TIME!"<br/><br/>((Will give Alura time to explain if she so desires, but Naji and the others do clearly see the Dancing Lights spell creeping out of the house! They'll be going to investigate themselves soon if nothing is told!  Also, as Alura first made contact to Veira, she gets a +2 to either Int, Cha, Wis, or Dex, your choice! ^_^))<br/><br/><br/>********************************************************<br/><br/>Again all odds, it seems as though Cyria has managed to keep Actil alive and whole, the still comatose dragon-kin breathing weakly beneath her, but breathing yet. No doubt there would be a little information to glean from him when he finally awoke, and given his obviously arcane background...perhaps something a little more useful to Cyria herself. That was assuming, of course, the poor dragon-man ever did actually recover. Weak as he was, given time he'd still likely at least be able to speak - though how coherently, who knew.<br/><br/>The sensation of trying to talk to someone in her own head was...odd. It was distinctly different from telepathy and the like, where it was a more or less direct mind link. The felt more like shouting down a well, and yet at the END of that well, Cyria can feel it - the strength of the half-feline primal, a wellspring of untapped energy just waiting for her to call upon. It was a strange sensation - even in the 'other world', she could tell the catgirl's strength, her raw power, her intelligence....<br/><br/>...And now, she could verily TOUCH it, like one might dip their hands into a river and feel the water sifting through their fingertips. All she had to do was reach in, scoop up a handful...<br/><br/>As it turns out, calling out to the catgirl in her head, seeking to 'find' her amidst the strange, echoing darkness...was just that. Dipping her hands into a river of energy that surged through her body like a roaring flame. It was Veira...and yet, it was HER too.<br/><br/>~Wha...what?! Who is...is...Cyria, was it?! What in the HELLS did you do to me?! Where am I?! It's just...dark. Grr, I can't see a thing. Legs feel like noodles - I KNOW that Oni never laid a finger on me. Where is she?! Wh....woo...wooaah....I d-don't...feel so good...~<br/><br/>Ever so briefly, Cyria felt herself...'touch' Veria. Not her body, but her very essence. It was invigorating beyond her wildest dreams...<br/><br/>((Cyria bonded with Veira! As I mentioned, this has little effect at the moment beyond the stat bonus! Pick one - Int, Wis, Cha, or Dex, and get a permanent +2 bonus to it! ))<br/><br/><br/>*************************************************************<br/><br/>It was difficult to tell what made Johan 'pull' the two voices closer to him. At first, they'd felt so very far away, so distant...and yet, the more he concentrated, the closer they came, the clearer they got...and the more he could feel the presence they belonged to. It was staggering, far beyond anything he'd experienced before. Veira's grace, her power, the subtle sense of sexuality that permeated her every movement. He could FEEL it. Could feel her hips, could feel the soft fur of her legs, could feel the beating of her heart, excited and fearful. More than that, though...he could feel the strength of her soul, her essence. It was terrifying in a way - against her, he might as well have been as powerful as a child. As skilled as he was with a blade, there was a....'feeling', just something he innately knew...this catgirl forgot more about a blade than he would ever live long enough to know.<br/><br/>Beyond Veira was Disa. Connecting with the Oni, much like the catgirl, sent a spark of raw POWER through his body. It was like standing standing steadfast against a tidal wave, and in moments he felt himself swept away under the current. For a single moment, he 'touched' the Oni, her strength flowing into him, giving him a brief taste of what she was like.<br/><br/>It was horrible. Deadly and horrible. The casualness with which she wielded her multi-hundred pound axe, how easily she might have ground them all into dust, or worse - stuffed each and every single one of them into her stomach and digested them over the course of a day or two, if she so desired. The intense strength, the raw fortitude, was overwhelming, and Johan found his head swimming with the sensations.<br/><br/>Disa, though...in his mind, Disa felt so much closer, and just as he felt her essence come closer...he melded his own with it.<br/><br/>It was stunning.<br/><br/>~J-johan? Ahh, what are you dooooing?! I can feel it - it feels--~ Disa's voice cut off in a faint whimper, and though he can still FEEL her 'inside' him...she was suppressed, at least momentarily. Suppressed by him..<br/><br/>There would be consequences. There would be those who sought this 'gift' for themselves. There might even be more consequences that he'd not even discovered or thought about - but it mattered little. The surge of strength, the surge of energy, was like nothing he'd ever experienced in his life. No...consequences be damned, in the here and now, this was AMAZING.<br/><br/><br/>((Johan has reached to Disa and bonded to her! He may gain a permanent bonus of +2 str or +2 con, your choice! ))<br/><br/><br/>*****************************************<br/><br/>Even with her body battered and partially digested, Sasara can FEEL Disa's presence swimming at the edges of her consciousness, a consciousness she might very well lose if she didn't get tended to soon. Still, the sensation of digestion remained with her...<br/><br/>The slick, hot stomach walls of the Oni, rippling around her, crushing her into a small ball of scales and skin, so very easy to digest..<br/><br/><br/>...The tingle of digestive acids as they took her apart little by little, turning her into food for the Oni's body, filling her with delight, with pleasure...<br/><br/>...The knowledge that, given a day's time, she'd no doubt be reentering the world in an entirely different form, squeezed from beneath the tail of the rather beautiful Oni who'd been so luck as to make her it's food.<br/><br/>Disa was still there with her...somehow. Somewhere...<br/><br/>((Sasara has bonded with Disa, being the first called out to! +2 bonus to either Str or Con, your choice!))<br/><br/>In that moment, she felt herself contact Disa, a sudden wave of excitement flooding her body...<br/><br/>((Rolling a 12, Sasara reaches out to touch Disa's energy...but finds herself too unstable to wield it. Rolling randomly for effects, Sasara...ends up getting no effects, good or bad. x3 Out of a possible bonus or penalty to Bond! ))