Welcome to Gaia! ::

Leaning against Raz, Req staggered back into the basement, half-way between her human and alien forms, human skin bleeding black blood sluggishly where her spikes protruded. Her eyes were gaunt, and she appeared to have lost an unhealthy amount of weight. Raz also appeared quite a lot thinner, and he had dark circles under his eyes and hollows in his cheeks. A large bandage peeked out from under his shirt when he lifted his arms to better support Req, whose right thigh was wrapped in bloodied gauze.

"I'm sorry I was gone... We were called back home." Her voice was strained. "We were invaded, and the Queen called us to fight." Raz mumbled something to her, and Req nodded and said, "Every one of us who has ever served in a governmental position has a device inside of his or her body, which will essentially-" she coughed and grimaced at the blood in her hands. "-Teleport us to the Imperial City from wherever we are... be it leagues or lightyears away."

She found a chair and sat, Raz doing the same, wincing as bending his body aggravated his wound.

"It was horrible... Before the enemy armies came, they bombed entire cities with some sort of drug that weakened our ability to heal ourselves. Hundreds of infants died of bloodloss from their own spines. By the time the Queen knew we were being attacked, the drug had been absorbed into the water and air... So those of us she called home were infected as well." Req's head fell into her hands. "I've never seen so many dead... thousands of bodies had to be burned in mass graves. The beautiful Red Desert is now black with our blood... We won the battle, but these last two months have seen such tremendous loss of life. Even Keela-" her voice broke and she took several deep breaths to calm herself, Raz looking sadly at her from weary eyes. Req swallowed and continued. "Keela took a bad hit to the stomach. Her wound is large, and the damaged tissue badly burned... She is alive, barely, but was not well enough to travel. Val chose to remain behind to look after her, until the drug is flushed out of her system, and she can heal herself. None of us know how long it will take for us to be clean of the toxin."

She tried to relax back into the chair, but her body kept going through various stages of transformation, slow enough to ache, but not quickly enough to be repulsive. She heaved a heavy sigh and hoped for forgiveness.

Req looked at the ceiling. "No, he and I have not had contact since the Christmas party... My friends and I were called home shortly after Adam's baby hatched, like, and I guess our disappearance got somewhat lost in the excitement." She winced as spines shot through her back and receded again, in quick succession. After a pause, she asked, "...Whatever happened to Owen?"

Req stiffened in pain at the hug. "H-Hello to you too, Boss." That... had not been comfortable. Her body was weaker than she'd thought. 'I never really expected a hug from the boss, like...' she thought to herself, waiting for the pains to subside.

((Life is pretty hectic for me right now, just so everyone knows, because I might be in and out.))

Req cleared her throat. "There was a war, back home," she began. Raz was holding his hands to his side, it seemed his wound had reopened. "We were called back. Our enemy bombed us with a toxin, and we can no longer heal ourselves... I am very sorry. Perhaps I shouldn't have returned. I do not know how long it will take for the drug to leave our systems, and I don't know how useful I will be until it is--!" She paused while rattling coughs shook her. She wiped the blood on her already stained bandage and croaked, "...gone."

Req lifted her hand and touched Owen's cheek. She was silent for a while before she turned to him and said, "...By the way, did you ever find the fish?" She paused, then gave a dry little laugh. "Nevermind."* Raz scowled a bit at being carried like a woman, but thought it best not to challenge The Horned One, as he and Val had called DG.


((*That's a direct quote from my mother, who was recently chock-full of morphine. GAWD, she was high as a kite.))