Viola & Kabiliti perspective:

It’s dark, it is a void.

Viola & Kabiliti: “I’m…whole?“

Viola & Kabiliti: “I feel… were whole again.“

And it hurts,

Viola & Kabiliti: “And it HURTS…“

Viola & Kabiliti: “IT THROBS,“

Viola & Kabiliti: “IT BURNS,“

A deep pain, unending,

Viola & Kabiliti: “MAKE IT STOP.“

|You're both stubborn idiots.|

A voice, a child?

Viola & Kabiliti: “Who was that? It’s her. Who?“

It is familiar. It is foreign. We know who this is, we don’t know them.

|What exactly made you think your bodies could withstand any amount of godhood?|

We can’t make sense of this. the pain, it’s too much

Viola & Kabiliti: “I CAN’T THINK! I CAN’T FOCUS! IT HURTS!“

|Consolidating your souls was smart, but not enough.|

The voice, it continues. Can it help? It must! The pain!

Viola & Kabiliti: “Please, it won’t stop! It’s too much“

|You're not even listening are you? Why would you, you both didn’t bother exploring the tasks tab; just assumed you had to bend the rules to achieve what was already possible.|

We beg! We beg! The pain only grows! We beg!

Viola & Kabiliti: “HELP! US! PLEASE!“

|No. Actions have consequences|

It has left. WHY DID IT ABANDON US?!?

Viola & Kabiliti: “SOMEONE! ANYONE! MAKE IT STOP!“

???:”Viola…”

That voice. It’s distant but familiar. It’s a man.

???:” Just keep feeding them, I can buy more”

The pain… it’s lessening

???:”Don’t die. I owe you too much….freed…”

Another voice… a woman.

???:”How can we….stuck together”

A new woman…I know her…Winda? AH! The pain still remains!

???:”...must find a way…save them”

It’s the beast? Maybe? Must be. Then the man- Ah! Thinking makes it worse!

Chuma: “You both…use that blessing, I’ll stay and…”

Viola & Kabiliti at the same time:” Please…”

Winda and Chuma:”Ah!”

Beast” They live! Thank the gods”

Viola & Kabiliti at the same time:” Help us…”

We can’t see anything but we feel…hands grasping Viola’s left arm…and…and Kabiliti’s head?

Chuma:” We will.”

Beast:” After what you’ve done for us?”

Winda: “Whatever you did, it was clearly a lot.”

Chuma:” Not how I would have ended it. But we will feed you and help you recover”

Viola & Kabiliti at the same time:” Feed? You can help?”

Beast: “Yes, we can and will. So rest.”

We feel something being pushed into us…it soothes the pain…and…makes us…tire…

Viola & Kabiliti at the same time:” Thank you….”

The darkness…doesn’t hurt as much anymore.

Chuma’s perspective:

Before me lay the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen in my life, a bisected woman and her bisected egg. From what the beast told us, this is the price they paid to help both Winda and her with their problem, Winda was quick to claim the beast was lying but the beast's new body was pretty hard to refute when it was standing in front of you wearing odd clothing.

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Winda: “So we just keep them from dying and they’ll keep us separated” Winda was staring at the beast with a sceptical gaze, still doubting her story.

“For the last time, yes. They asked their god to ‘remove the evil’ from me and grant me this metal body.” the beast reaffirmed while gesturing to its new body, which was exactly the same as Winda’s transformed form but continually kept cycling through different dull colours

“So we should return the favour and help them, at least so we revert to how we started”

Winda still looked doubtful, clearly thinking this was some sort of trick.

The beast pinched her snout and sighed “Look, the beast you know was all about murder and cannibalism right?”.

Winda nodded her head in reluctant affirmation.

“Then why would I wake you both up instead of just killing and eating you” argued the beast.

Again, she had a point. She was the first one to wake up and she was the one who knew feeding the twins metal would seal their…exposed wounds.

I looked at their now sealed half-bodies and shuddered at the memory of seeing their still-beating organs.

Chuma: “Winda, I agree that the beast suddenly being good is weird and suspicious but we have to be pragmatic about our current situation: the twins just sacrificed, basically a whole person, to solve your curse problem and were the entire reason my curse was discovered in the first place. Right now we have an extra set of hands that both, want to help and told us how to help, so I say we trust her. At least for now ”

“But she’s a monster!” Winda protested “You saw how she was before. She tried to EAT you, not kill, EAT!”

Chuma: “And now, at the price of two people, she’s good now”

Winda simply grunted in frustration, finally done wanajacking “Fine, but I still think we're making a mistake by trusting it.”

I turned to look at the beast who was still by Viola and her sister’s side

Chuma:” So how do we find more metal, my glaive and all cooking ware could do is cover her organs and what do we do about the lack of blood”

Winda: “They don’t have blood.” she gestured to the snaking inky black slime lines extending from the massive pool of “””not blood””” surrounding and beneath the twins “Those are what's left of Viola’s sister’s tendrils” she then pointed to the pool of ink she was kneeling in “and this is from their…Payment”

“Ok, so it’s ‘body juice’.”I corrected ”That still doesn’t solve the metal problem!”

While I did say I would buy more. More was looking very much out of my price range with what little I owned, achieving so little.

The beast looked around herself, she was clearly rattled but was trying and failing to hide it.

I walked over to her and grasped her towering shoulder, which caused her to flinch a bit

“Oh Sorry-”

Beast: “No, it’s fine. I just…I'm fine.”

I looked at her more closely, and I could just…tell she was lying

Chuma” No, you're not. Slow down a second”

She paused

Chuma:” Good. Now breath, slowly”

She did as I asked and visibly looked more in control. I thought I heard her say something under her breath, but it doesn’t matter as long as she can now think clearly.

Beast:” Ok… I think there are 3 ways we can help them”

I continued looking at her, hoping her Idea didn’t involve more of my stuff being absorbed, meanwhile, I could feel Winda’s eyes drilling a hole in the back of my head.

Beast:” We could buy the metal, but prices are going to be impossibly high for us with the ongoing construction going on. Umm, we could also ask the government to help, but I’m fairly sure with the current political situation. They would be exploited-”

“What political situation” Winda interrupted in a coarse tone

Beast:” Wa- how do you not know? That's what Tia has been complaining about dealing with for the last- Chuma… you at least know right?”

I simply nodded, a bit baffled at Winda’s lack of knowledge.

It’s an open secret that the nobles of most clans don’t fully accept the current Nabagereka rise to the throne with her being one of the 8 who survived the crown prince’s doomed expedition into the abyss and the prince notably not being one of the survivors. The nobles' unrest has gotten so bad that even the common man knows enough about it to be worried.

Chuma: “Yeah, I wouldn’t trust the nobles or a clan head either. Things seem calm but the emergence of, not one, but two firstborns who can call on their gods at will. Might make the situation noticeably worse and I doubt either side will treat them as if there is anything more than especially powerful pawns”

Beast: “That leaves the last option of just outright stealing construction supplies”

Winda scoffed “What, you want us to just steal steel beams, copper pipes and other government property? Did you forget that this city is a personal project of her majesty the Nabagereka? If we trying to avoid the government, the last thing we should do is actively steal from them”

The beast glared at Winda “It’s the only possible thing we can do, Winda! Or do you have a better plan”

Winda glared back and smiled “I do, we ask Tia for help”

Chuma:” Who?”

Beast:” No, GODS no! That's a horrible idea”

Winda: “I’m sure Jjaja Omukazzi can get us the necessary metal, she’s a matriarch after all”

Beast:” AND a clan head, not to mention I don’t want her to KILL ME.”

“I’m sure you're good enough to sacrifice yourself for the greater good” Winda taunted while staring the beast down

The Beast met her challenge” I’m good, not suicidal” she countered through clenched teeth

I got between them and tried changing the subject ”Wait wait wait, you're related to a Clan head?”

They both backed off and looked away from each other

Beast:” You’ve already seen her, she’s the city clan head for the Huisi, and she wants me dead more than anything”

“Rightfully so” Winda added.

I tried to continue the discussion of our plan “So how do we go about stealing construction materials” I saw Winda turn around to object but I shot her down “And we are stealing them”

The beast turned back to see Winda pouting and smiled as she laid out her plan.

She would go out and use her bestial strength to steal as many things as possible and periodically sneak back with small things while leaving the big, things in an alley somewhere. Then at night, we would decide to either bring the rest of the metal to the sisters or bring the sisters to the metal, depending on how well they would be doing at the time. Me and Winda were to stay here and watch over the sisters.

We all agreed to the plan, Winda begrudgingly so.