Grimm Tail [Apotheosis & Wolf]

Uncertainly Wolf got his bearings slowly. The potion chased the last of the odd hallucinatory state quite quickly, but he was still a little weak around the edges. He’d never suffered such an… effect before, and he wasn’t sure how much he’d liked it. Then again, he supposed that if there was no risk involved, then the reward wouldn't have been worth the effort of getting it.

Then again, the effort was a little more than he’d bargained for.

Still, looking up at Apotheosis’s worried eyes, he felt a little smile form on his lips. “I owe you one for that.” He said. “I was having all sorts of weird hallucinations. Rolling waves of color. Talking frogs. I have no idea what was going on. Only… we need to be careful not to touch these frogs anymore.”

He frowned at the little creatures hopping around. “What do you think… I mean even if we find one that’s different kissing it is probably a bad idea. Unless the one that’s different is the one that’s not poisonous?”

He sighs and rises to his feet, offering his hand to her to take so that she can get up more easily herself as he scanned the frogs. “Did you see a gold one by any chance? I could have sworn that there was a golden frog… but I could have been hallucinating by that point…” Still, a golden frog would make sense. After all, a royal frog wouldn’t be some common color would it?

Apotheosis looks around at the frogs as she takes Wolf's hand and rises with him. Even after they're both standing, she doesn't let go of his hand. She doesn't want to let go of his hand in truth, even in the middle of this puzzle that gets only the more curious as Wolf talks longer.

She looks thoughtful. Her lips press together in that tell-tale way that says she's thinking, thinking hard about what she's seen, what she's been told, and what their next move should be. Talking frogs. Golden frogs. Kissing frogs are a bad idea... "No. I haven't seen a golden frog."

Those violet eyes of hers train onto his lips. His mouth. "Of course! If we shouldn't be kissing frogs, we should be kissing princes instead," she says, and her hands go up to rest on his cheeks as she rises up on her tip-toes.

"Kiss me," she says softly. Her eyes half-lidding. "If this doesn't work, then all we wasted was a kiss, my love."

It's a fantastic little notion that somehow this is the solution to the puzzle, but... It's an easy solution to try, at least.

After all, he loves her. And she loves him. A kiss is easy.

Wolf isn’t surprised that Apotheosis continues to hold his hand. She seems to crave closeness to him, and it’s something that he can easily relate to. The truth is, that he feels the same way a lot of the time… Just so unbearably alone. He steps a little closer to her, not quite touching, but close enough that she knows that she’s not alone. They’ve got one another.

She’s thoughtful at the moment, so maybe she doesn’t notice. His eyes flicker around the cave for some sight of the golden frog, but she’s drawing his attention with her hands and words. “Princes?” He queries. He’s no prince. Not even close. Certainly that’s not a title that he’s earned either in the game or in his life.

Apotheosis is intent however, and he feels warmth rising to his cheeks as she suggests that they kiss. She’s not wrong, if a kiss doesn’t solve the puzzle then all they’ve lost is a kiss. Still, he can’t imagine that the game would require such from those passing through. Then again, Savior was well known for its inventive dungeons and unique puzzles. He’d heard of dungeons where you were required to have special objects and certainly ones where you had to perform all sorts of bizarre actions to get through.

Why not a kiss?

He leans down toward her, offering her a gentle kiss. It’s brief thing, particularly when he realizes that there’s no reaction in the game to their lips touching. He lets out a breath, pulling away and then…

There it is! A golden frog. “Apotheosis!” He points toward the golden frog. “There it is!”

She wants to tell him--tell him that he's her prince, like the one in a fairy tale destined to save her--but the rest of her mind is too occupied by the lure of his lips, by wanting him and his closeness. They touch and--

It's so fleeting, so brief, that little speck of happiness in her chest that could have turned so quickly into a rising flame, that she can't help but frown a little when he pulls away. The expression's gone, however, when Wolf points out to the golden frog and calls it out as it is.

"Oh!" Apotheosis blinks, and she almost goes to reach for it, but then she remembers: Don't touch the frogs. Instead, she looks at it and...

(This is the stupidest idea ever.)

"Hello, Golden Frog." She bows politely. "Are you the His Highness the Frog Prince?"

After all, the frog prince is often a talking frog in many retellings of the tale. It's a fair bet to make. Maybe. Right?

Wolf watches Apotheosis turn around and… bow? To the frog. He’s utterly confused until she addresses the frog, hoping that it’s the prince that they’re supposed to find. Respectfully he offers a bow to the little creature also, but allows Apotheosis the opportunity to diplomatically handle the situation. After all, of the two of them she more accurately fits the ‘princess’ archetype.

The frog however doesn’t seem to notice or care about them. It hops quickly across the ground, jumping around the other frogs quickly and threatening to disappear as quickly as it had appeared. “I think it’s a chase!” Say’s Wolf, for the first time looking a bit excited.

He likes hunting things.

Quickly he darts forward, his silver eyes on the little golden amphibian. It hops to the left and he dodges to the right, almost catching it, but it’s just a little faster. It seems to realize that theres someone hunting it now, because it’s hopping around more intently than it had been a moment before. Wolf is grateful for the light of the torch on the ground to illuminate the cave. Otherwise he’d have a lot more trouble catching the little thing.

As it is the frog is infuriatingly fast and nimble. Which is perhaps no surprise given it’s size and it’s nature. Still a few moments later he’s got it caught up in his big hand, laughing in joy at the sensation of it hopping around inside his palms trying to escape. Only belatedly does he remember that it might be poisonous.

“What do I do with it?” He hopes she doesn’t suggest that he kiss the slimy thing.

Apotheosis blinks rapidly as she watches Wolf look so... happy to be chasing something. Hunting down the frog. It doesn't even occur to her to use her haste spell to do so, although she'd have to summon Hugin and Munin first to cast it, because he just seems so happy to have caught it of his own will when it's wriggling in his hands.

Would he be even happier if he was chasing me? she wonders idly.

"Well, it doesn't seem to be making you hallucinate like touching the others did, so--I think the safest thing to do is for me to kiss it. Hold it still for me, yes?" She offers him an apologetic look. She knows it must pain him to see her kiss something else, because he loves her. She doesn't know how she'd react to seeing him kiss something... or someone... else. Other than that the thought fills her with pain now that he's all hers and no longer has to spend time with other people for money.

She leans forward and... Hesitantly, hesitantly, she goes to put a kiss on the frog's mouth.

The command halts Apotheosis as she's leaning in to plant a kiss on the golden frog. She's only a few inches away, so it's not as though she's just shy of its lips (or lack thereof) like she is so often when she goes to give Zalgiman a kiss--as she is awfully fond of murmuring things so close to his mouth before closing the distance in entirety. But it's perhaps too close for comfort--and it's perhaps a relief when she rises back up to her full height again.

"You're right," she murmurs, looking thoughtful as she flicks the underside of her chin in thought with a couple of fingers. It's where Zalgiman likes to put his hand, sometimes, to cheer her up. After all, it never fails to make her flush when he touches her there. Or... anywhere, really. Beyond that diversion, however, she's humming thoughtfully for a moment--

Then her violet eyes flash in recognition. "That's right! The original story didn't have the princess kissing the frog. She throws it against the wall!" she says, and then...

She looks at the little golden frog and frowns, almost pouting. "Do I have to throw it? It's... kind of small and cute..."

Instant relief flows though Wolf as Apotheosis stops and thinks about the prospect of frog-kissing and what might actually need done. He thinks too while she’s got that thoughtful expression on her face, but nothing comes to mind. Thankfully for him - and for them both - she seems to remember the story. He perks up eagerly and holds tightly to the frog as it hops around furiously in his hands.

"That's right! The original story didn't have the princess kissing the frog. She throws it against the wall!"

Wolf frowns a little at this explanation, echoing Apotheosis’s feelings on the subject. “Violent isn’t it? I suppose the stories were though weren’t they?” He shrugs and Apotheosis looks at him in worry and he offers her a gentle smile. Of course she doesn’t want to hurt the little animal. He’d offer her some comfort, but he hasn’t a hand to spare to do it.

“Don’t worry, I’ll do it.” He says instead turning away from her toward the pool and winds up. With a hurried motion, he chucks the unsuspecting frog at the wall. He half expects it to explode into a bunch of pixels but it bounces off the wall and into the pond below. Sinking… sinking. Feeling foolish he moves forward just in time for the frog to hit the bottom of the pond and a ghost-like figure to rise up out of the water.

It looks like a prince. The ghostly figure turns away from them and walks toward the back of the pool. The pool drains quickly into the ground as a pathway forward is revealed. Wolf wipes his hands on his pants and offers his hand sheepishly to Apotheosis. “Guess it wasn’t exactly like the story after all. Here, we might as well keep going.”

He leads the way forward into the next room which is… boiling hot. It looks like a small cabin really, but the heat inside is intense. All from a huge oven situated to the right side of the room. It looks like a grim thing, a maw waiting to be fed. Off to the left Wolf notes that there are all sorts and sizes of cages. All empty…