Chapter 52: Harmonics and Good Function (Frame 514.5)
Harmonics and Good Function (Frame 514.5)
Content Warnings:
<Assessing… Prey designation: Sister Xafra. Factor thirteen Construct. Neutral threat Level. Seek Primary User's advisement.>
This one turns to regard its Mistress. She smirks, and after two unbearably slow heartbeats, nods toward our fleeing sister.
This one does not need to take a deep breath. Does not need to consider or set itself into balance. Does not need to hesitate.
It only needs to Function.
Stone floor beneath is adequate, this one would launch from here but… Chips or debris could kick up and harm Mistress, so instead it rises quickly. Letting all six Quills, four arms, Fangs and two additional slit-small eyes open just below Schatzi’s horns melt forth. Then it darts to the grass, gaze locking back onto Xafra’s fleeing form.
Crouching, it curls old jade laced tendons to near breaking, Quills screaming with every motion and intention and joy at feeling itself tick the Frame up into Giyar Seven with ease.
Then it jumps.
Soars over Sister and impacts the side of Mistress’ Spire, not even needing to use its talons to hook along the naturally ridged things edges as it peers down to watch Xafra scurry across the grounds.
But then… this one hesitates.
Old words bubble up in reminder of its Mistress command. ‘So long as you know to never call her that, or anything she does not expressly request, I’ll let you think on this. Tell me and her later.’
This one growls at the question it has chewed on between Schatzi’s calmer chores and considerations since that day.
Why did it keep calling Sister Xafra ‘Old Parasite’?
<Assessing…>
Was it because it thought of her as such? No. Within the jungles her nature became plain. It relayed truth to the Mistress.
<Assessing…>
Was it because it wanted to hurt her? No. It… there was no good function to be had in goading or wounding her with words.
<Assessing…>
Was this term a product of Disfunction? This one thought so. Was prepared to relay that as the answer to both its new Sister and Mistress. But now…
Something about calling her that feels like it had a purpose, and makes the Quills sing in focus. Not to repeat the word. No. But to UNDERSTAND why it bubbled up and needed to be said.
So it stalks Xafra as she enters the Spire. Not following her in through the front entrance, but from the balcony. Ticking the Frame up into Giyar Eight to move easily through the study at whip-crack speed without disturbing but a single parchment or two.
It finds her moving through the Spire’s entrance. Looking back toward the grounds while backing up through the kitchen. Unaware of the Frame scuttling silently across the ceiling above, Quills now stilled in bubbling anticipation. Xafra pauses, then glances about the silent kitchen and lounging areas. Even looking up, but the Frame moves quick enough to avoid even her peripheral vision. Remaining in the cone-shaped dead zone those with only eyes will have at their back.
This one almost pounces, considers taking this prey here. Now. But...
No. Not yet.
Instead, this one gifts its newest Sister teasing titters of amused hungry resonance through the bond. Let's Xafra feel this bubbling delight at being able to stalk and hunt WELL again. To track prey that finds itself unable to spot the Frame, while this one watches them begin to understand just how little that can be done to change that. Even clicks up to Giyar Nine while reaching down to nudge a trinket to tip and fall off a counter to clatter loudly on the floor, and is already about and behind Xafra before her eyes jerk to spot the source of the noise.
Fills the bond with the barely ignorable desire to leap. But...
No. NOT YET!
It... it tilts the head of the Frame. Pauses to really consider this newest sister from a new angle...
<Assessing...>
Why those WORDS!?!?!
And it feels one of the many edges of the answer it seeks.
It didn't want her to become that.
Xafra proceeds, just almost spots the Frame when it senses that part of the answer. But it's able to move while she begins to descend the stairs down to the Mistress' Spire main bedchamber.
<Assessing...>
That's it! It needs the Quills! It could never really think well without them. But... Only the mingling of function and purpose and harmony can grant it clarity now. And for that... it needs the Pack.
So it leaps, just as Xafra is upon those last three steps, eyes locked above after a quick look about the room. The Frame clicks down to Giyar Seven, lets out a victorious ear-popping shrill, and kicks off the wall into Sister Xafra's new frail Doll form just as she begins to jerk around.
A Sister's echoing resonance will show it the opposite sides of the question.
It is careful. That's why it remained in Giyar Seven. Lower would give the Frame all the abilities it would need to completely shred the form Xafra wears, while this higher one holds the deft speed and precision it needs to tumble forth with its prize without so much as scratching her Frame. Eventually rolling so it sits above and straddles her. Xafra's two arms pinned above while this one's two extra talons flex free at her sides. Quills steady their Tune into a ravenous thing of victory and need to... to...
What?
<Assessing...>
Fangs click-clack in curiosity as it regards Xafra's wide new eyes staring back up at this one.
Xafra shifts, letting her own Quills jut out from her scalp so they can start a simple thrumming song of encouragement.
The Frame freezes at this. Caught between old melodies that hurt to let dance through the Quills and… and hope that soothes the pain.
This one knew it would never be a part of a Pack again. Knew itself alone and rusting and only just worth the fury it functioned within. Knew that the future of the Frame lay within the half that served within the calm. In Schatzi. And the best end it could hope for was that she never needed to call this half to stir above Giyar Null again.
But… Then a name was sewn onto this one’s mind. And it was made defective with the hunger for more time with this Pack.
<Assessing...>
No. Not defective. It was good Function to continue the hunt knowing it will rust sooner than to abandon the Pack. And… and then it was made better. Not whole. Not free of all the rust but… able to endure. Able to spin the threads within into new shapes faster than the rust could unravel them.
The Frame’s jaw shifts, then cracks more seams free into four distinct plates. Each with twinned rows of Fangs within. And between them is this one’s long unfurling tongue. A thing it hasn’t been able to let stretch beyond a talon’s length in many many years. Its surface has a soft scale-like texture that hides numerous small, sharp, rear-facing projections.
Able to sing.
This one trembles at the Quills' sudden, almost erratic, joy at that. Unable to stop the Frame from darting down to latch itself onto Xafra’s jaw and neck. The talons that pin her hands dig furrows into the root floor between and beneath them while the spare set rake down her soft Doll form’s sides.
Careful though. But… does it need to be?
As the Frame gently gnashes and chews, the Quills thrum a flurry of questions it hopes Xafra can understand and reply to. Mingled and laced with memories of… of what it thinks she won’t be able to grasp the meanings of. Things it would sometimes thrum while Fangs and Talons were allowed to bury themselves into the Mistress but… knew she could not reply to.
What it means when a Pack Sister pins another to the floor and asks to Harmonize with her. Thrumming requests to… to echo things from First Breaking. To press close in mind and function. To weave a melody that can help this Frame hunt the answer to a question it knows is so very important to find and devour the answer to…
Xafra tentatively thrums unity, attempting to be what is wanted, while pressing her body gently against fangs and talons, not in protest but in desire.
Her Quill-Song… it’s not sufficient. Not enough. Too shallow and clumsy and… and cracking at the edges. It wants to scream in pain and fury and annoyance but…
A memory dances through the Frame.
Of… of this one in those first days. How they all were. No Pack Sister started with perfect songs or forms. None could harmonize well after First Breaking. And…
<Assessing...>
The Pack was not complete from the start, it had to be forged. Quills Tuned and Function taught. This new part of the answer to the question draws it into motion as the Quills drown the room in nothing but this revelation. If it wants this Sister, it needs to SHOW her how to Harmonize. Just how it was shown.
So, with a deft slowness absent of all hesitation, it begins.
Talons slip into and within and beneath the torso plates of Xafra’s form while fangs shove back her head to a near cracking point as its fangs move to wrap about her mouth and jaw into a ravenous kiss. Through Quill-Song trying to... to communicate things and memories it has to dredge up from this one's long rusted mind. Using the bond Xafra wove to try and fill the gaps her Quills can't feel.
Trying to submerge her in every way in what it needs her to see and what it needs to find.
<Assessing...>
It finds all sorts of wonderful surprises across and within Xafra's Doll Form. Things it cannot help but admire and almost caress with Talon and Tongue and echoing songs. This Sister's Quills are PERFECT, and her Shifting is better than this Frame could ever match. No... no... it is not a problem in form. But... In Function?
<Assessing...>
The Frame adjusts to sitting while pulling Xafra to straddle this one's lap as it considers her with talon and tongue and resonating Quill-Song. Fangs nibbling and gnashing and scratching all about this sister's well crafted Frame.
No. Wrong. Xafra chooses her function. She is not like this one. But... Then why call her 'Old Parasite'?
And so what Mistress would call a 'huff of hornii annoyance' is allowed to flow down the bond to this new sister as it shares this question and all its fractured revelations to Xafra. Showing her through bond and song and embrace that it... it cannot find the answer on its own and... and would so very much like help from her. Sharing how it thinks this answer needs to be found and consumed to remain in good function.
Through the bond Xafra responds without hesitation, showing how she feared being a parasite in truth, and thinks that such vulnerability and potential for harm was likely seen as part of threat assessment. Externally, this one feels her continue to try and improve the Quill-Song while moving to nuzzle closer.
It considers this while chewing gently on Xafra’s neck and shoulder and chest and fears.
<Assessing...>
A memory bubbles up. Clarification found in this Sister’s past words. Something ignored due to the rust it couldn’t function past at the time.
‘You know the pain of loneliness. I would be a slave before I return to that.’
Parasites don’t, at least in the ways this one understands that designation, have a Pack. Their feast is not their family. At the first sign of… of spoiling they depart. Leave the rest to rust.
And then like a whip-crack of a strike, the answer solidifies.
It saw in Xafra… itself. What it could have almost become when the Pack died. How it, when looming over Mistress that first time, chose to pull back and kneel instead of ending her. Requesting this Witchling claim and care for its sister.
‘Follow me. Protect me. Be my fury when the need arises for such bloody nonsense.’ Mistress had replied. ‘Do this, and I will keep you both as long as I breathe.’
And it had agreed. Because it also refused to be alone. Chose to become ensouled and bound in every way it could to this Mistress’ will if it meant never being abandoned again. But… Xafra could refuse. Can leave any time she wants. She’s not a Doll like this one. And that word was… was supposed to be a reminder. A tether. A gift.
‘Please don’t forget what being alone feels like. Please don’t leave us. Please don’t break this one’s Mistress and leave her with only Nightmares to remember you by.’
It pulls Xafra ever closer while the answer settles to thrum and roil and boil within this Frame’s chest. Humming down the bond and through the Quills as it–
<Addendum. Prey designation removed. Pack Sister designation added: Xafra. Sharing resonance… Assessing…>
Like how this Frame’s favorite Sister used to do, it wraps itself about Xafra’s song and Frame. Not to overpower but… lay out the patterns. Fill the gaps. Show her not how to sing but… how to <Harmonize>. The deep Roots of the Quill-Song needed to adapt and share and communicate all the things she might want to share. How to <Negate> a Spell and <Locate> Sisters and... and more! More than it thinks she can understand until she sings them. Melodies even this Frame never used…
Xafra stills both body and Quills after pulsing with understanding, then seems to echo from her deepest parts. Not a song or spell but… a Shifting this one cannot help but focus on, like one preparing to leap from a high place or… or share something of great value. Then her Quills once again sing, but this time with a deliberate request to <Harmonize>.
A pause, like a breath, this Sister nudges this one to turn attentions to the bond they share with Mistress. Communicating a wordless request for her permissions.
This one thrums through Quill and Bond ::Curiosity/Trust/Hunger/Pleading::.
::Observing/Trust/Proceed:: is Mistress Elevar’s immediate reply.
With careful and slow precision, this one feels Xafra reach deep into the Frame’s Core. And it feels as it feared the final rusting would manifest as she unravels it. But… This Sister holds it together, doesn’t let it drift into unending waste. Then threads a strand from her core to this one’s and back into hers, then pauses again. A deliberate and wordless final confirmation.
It thrums in wordless approval and hunger and desire for this through the Quills and Bond.
A snapping sound cracks through this one’s Core and Quills as Xafra makes one final stroke of weaving and… then everything is different.
<Harmonize>
The Song that this Frame normally sings alone is… it echoes through another set of Quills?
Both within and without.
This one feels Xafra.
Like it feels Schatzi but… but through a new Frame that… that it can mimic the Function of and… and it can HEAR HER!
<Harmonization complete. Synthesizing primary Function and stabilizing. Pack Sister Designation: Xafra amended to Pack Lead Designation: Xafra. Awaiting Harmonics…>
The Frame trembles and pulls this new Sister close as it feels such a deep ache flare up as it sets the Quills to sing.
<Locate>
And immediately the Quills send back vibrations from Xafra into itself.
<Pack Lead Designation: Xafra, Located. Absorbing Harmonics…>
<Locate> The Frame thrums again.
<Pack Lead Designation: Xafra, Located. Absorbing Harmonics…>
<Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate><Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> <Locate> It thrums over and over and over and over.
And every time it feels her.
Like she feels it.
And Quills scream in delight and fury and victory and... and things words can't relay to this new sister it has found.
The Frame sets Quills to a lilting thing of questions and clear desires thrumming through itself and into Xafra.
<Request for physical Resonance shared. Frame preferences advised. Awaiting reply...>
Within the Frame’s embrace, Xafra begins to shift. Small delicate breasts forming where there was smooth flatness within her green dress before. Tail lengthens but also grows thin as it seems to slowly move to wrap about this one.
<Request Accepted.>
The Frame rumbles as Quills begin to deepen their pitch. A low basso rolling to encompass the room as it once again takes up Xafra’s arms with this one’s uppermost pair before moving to once again lay her across the soft Root floor.
This one's joints crack and stretch once more, increasing this Frame's size further as lowermost Talons tear free whatever remains of the attire Schatzi dressed them in this morning. Allowing it to fully loom over this Sister’s form while what was smooth featureless crotch plates split and shift to form a length to grow forth in hardened anticipation.
Quills twitch as lower Talons move to drift down the only slightly disheveled green dress Xafra wears while its gaze locks on hers. Considering…
It cackles through fangs as tongue spills free once more to curl and dance close to this Sister's shoulders and neck and face as it leans down to hover just above Xafra’s lips. A single folded question thrumming out in search for simpler answers.
<Start now?>
"Yes.” Xafra responds with enthusiasm. “Yes yes yes."
This one leans down just as her final word ends to drown Xafra in a kiss of Fangs and overlong tongue. At this Sister’s first writhing beneath, the Frame slowly draws Talons down the fabric of the green dress. And, once it’s sliced apart, this one pulls free of the kiss and begins to dance fangs across the soft Dollflesh of her neck while tongue slithers down beneath the cleanly sliced fabrics.
Keeping the little spines along its tongue laid flat, for now, it explores this soft and fragile form she’s kept. Brushing aside strips of cloth as it finds breasts to tease and squeeze, gripping hips with lowermost Talons that almost fully envelop them, and… eventually finding what Xafra decided to grow between her legs.
Fangs gnash and gnaw in excitement and hunger at what the Frame finds. Then at how she twitches and wriggles within this one’s clutches. Can’t stop from leaving the first small knicks and cuts on Xafra’s skin while uppermost Talons dig gouges into the wood between the fingers of the hands they pin.
And all the while the Quills low tone smothers the room in the thrill and longing and aching and hungers of Pack found and claimed. Of Harmonization.
It’s… not like what Xafra’s bond does or did. Her first weavings with Mistress is a thing of words and wills and schemes.
The bonding of Pack Sisters is Function and Purpose shared. Goals resonating through everything they are. Every motion just… naturally part of the Pack’s greater movements. It’s like how this one’s lower left Talon doesn’t NEED to know what the others do. Because they are connected at the Root and all sway to the same harmony.
Division is what happens when there is disagreement or bad motion, and the pain of it hurts in every way it knows. But… It has avoided that with even Schatzi these past weeks! More than it thought possible. Because… because it accepted that it WAS defective. Rusting. Needed a Sister to guide it back into good Function.
And now… as it flawlessly feels Xafra thrum in Frame and Quill and Mind, knows her function matches this one and is good… it trembles.
Pauses fangs as they find her collarbone, then this one lifts her.
And in a silent motion the Frame drags Xafra up and presses her against the closest wall. Pinning this new Pack sister in a motion that might as well scream to her with its meaning.
‘Mine?’ No. It possesses nothing. This Frame and the minds moving it belong to Mistress. This is… less than that. But also more.
‘This one refuses to be alone again?’ …No. The Frame has been kept whole by a second sister for a long time. And even at the worry of Mistress death to the Soul Rot it would never be singular again.
This one… considers this while it presses its own length against Xafra’s. Chews on this question like it gnaws on one of her breasts. Keeps it from losing focus on the question like how it keeps this new sister pinned with all four Talons. Digs Fangs gently into her flesh as it drives focus into the core of this question.
Can’t help but cackle in delight as this new sister’s mere presence helps reflect the answer back into its heart.
‘This one refuses to leave you alone.’ Is what it sings as it holds Xafra against the Root wall of their Mistress Spire and slips its own erection down and under and into the pussy grown beneath Xafra’s cock.
‘This Resonant Chorus will not lose another Sister.’ Is the threat/promise it grasps as tongue wanders down to wrap about her quivering erection.
‘This Frame will never let us endure the silence again.’ Is the core of the Harmony it shares with Xafra as the Frame presses itself deeper into her. Fangs fully enveloping her jaw and neck and mouth as tongue begins to squeeze and twist and pleasure this Sister’s erection while it pumps its own cock into her soft and tight pussy.
Pack Sister embraces rarely last long when Harmonizing like this. And with twinned Quill-song resonating through multiple sensation sharing pathways Xafra wove we just… bubble everything over quicker than either of us can expect or prepare for.
Quills growl and twitch and drown us both in the bliss of our first paired Harmonics. Pressing close in all the ways we know how. Losing ourselves and even forgetting which Frame pins which Sister in place.
Feeling her as she feels it. Unable to untangle thoughtpaths as we mingle close.
Eventually we decide wordlessly to pull from the Root wall to sit and just… hold one another. One Frame enveloping the other. Finding steady and unending good Function in the nuzzling of Frame and Thoughts and Song.
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