Always eat with your Mouth Closed.

Oh Knitty, Knitty, Knitty...

To be mad at me, for providing a magnificent gift to Fell, one that both you and I received ourselves, which allowed us to rise above our mundane, humanistic existence. But I'm getting ahead of myself, there's been a few posts made already about the situation, the only thing missing is my perspective on what happened between me and Knitty.

So let's get down to it, I'm not going to re-count what happened prior to our dance, Malik already covered that part rather accurately. Let's get to the part where I jumped over Knitty's freaking transformation and started running towards the building that housed the means of her return, which is something I needed access to, to verify if it could be used as a "shortcut" of sorts. I was making my through the various amounts of the Shambling Husks and Denizens which were in my way, ripping each other apart, I guess they slowed me down just enough, because from behind me, I heard: "You asked for it, dear! Besides, there is vengeance to be had!" a response to my earlier remark about us immediately getting down to business and there being no other pleasantries. The fact that her voice was getting closer, told me that she was gaining on me, I was about to turn around in order to face her, but she was just too fast, something sharp and heavy, instantly ripping through the back of my jacket and digging into my back, knocking me onto the ground, from behind me, her voice ringing out: "And here you are, running away from the fun!" She was on top of me, pinning me down to the ground, planning on doing God knows what, I couldn't really see, but I didn't need to, I solidified the back of the jacket instantly, trapping Wolf's claws within me: "Me? Running?" I grunted through the pain that was shooting down my back, I began to try and push myself up "I just figured the real party was inside!" and as I was pushing myself up, my darling took the initiative and sent massive, sharp spikes from the back of my jacket, aiming to pierce Knitty. I could feel her pulling and tugging away at my back, no doubt trying to free herself, then there was this weird feeling, this weird "sting", I paid no mind to it, because her pulling was so great, that I was able to finally push myself upwards with no problem, turning around and seeing her standing there, already ready to attack: "Oh no no no, dear. You won't be going through that door today!" I could hear the excitement, I could tell that my darling's spikes were able to do some damage, but nothing significant and yet despite that, she was still looking forward to this battle continuing and I couldn't blame her, because I was getting just as giddy.

Besides, even if I wasn't, there wasn't much of a choice, I had to face her and incapacitate her if I were to explore that building and find the answers I was looking for, she was much faster than me, so there was no way I could outrun her. I formed two, sharp edged spikes from my sleeves: "And why not, pray tell!?" as I planted my feet firmly into the ground, taking note of the various Shamblers, still roaming around nearby, I prepared for her inevitable lunge towards me: "I only want to observe Osprey's work..." I felt a smile creep onto my face, as I dropped hints as to what I know so far "After all, it is a rare occasion that one would be able to study the work of someone, who would be branded a 'Sage'." At this point I noticed something, I saw the gashes that I left on her, were beginning to stitch themselves up, I was trying to analyse as to how exactly her healing worked, but her response made me stop paying attention: "A 'Sage'?! HA!" She laughed out "You really want to leave so soon, Calavera? I'm hurt." That's when she lunged at me "Stay a while!" as she finished exclaiming that statement, the stitches on her mouth and cheeks just detached, allowing her mouth to open wide, so wide in fact that I could see all the sharp teeth within, if she was able to sink her teeth into someone's flesh, with a maw that wide, a good chunk of that flesh would be gone in an instant, wasn't going to let that happen, as I rushed towards her, laughing at her mocking remark about 'Sages' of old: "I KNOW! What a stupid fucking title!" I grab one of the Shamblers that was not far away and used him as a meat shield, whilst extending the the sharp edged spike on my free hand, imitating the form of a lance, intending to impale her right through her open mouth. But, things are never so easy, she swerved at the last moment, out of the way, leaping past me and as she did, my own momentum was interrupted by a sudden tendril that was now wrapped around my neck, I was stopped dead in my tracks, the sudden shift in momentum forcing me to let go of my Meat Shield, sending it flying a few feet away. As the tendril began forcing me down against the ground, realising that my legs were buckling under the pressure, I quickly retracted my lance and my darling extended the back of the jacket against the ground, solidifying it, preventing me from falling to the ground. But it wasn't enough, mainly because the position I was caught was uncomfortable for me and if my darling kept the back of the jacket hardened, Wolf was in a position to simply snap my hosts neck, so we created the illusion of Wolf winning this struggle, as my darling began to slowly descend underneath the ground, allowing Wolf to gently pull me down onto the ground, while she was doing that I heard her exclaim a sentiment that I very much agreed with strongly: "Fools, all of them! Meddling in things they shouldn't!" Too bad that I couldn't engage in this conversation on account of me being slowly choked out by the tendril around my neck, although, surprisingly, at some point, the tendril eased up, I would quickly figure out why, because she got closer, leaping over me, digging her claws on her hand into my chest and then freakishly twisting her entire body around, as if some sort of weird marionette, in order to face me. Once she was facing me, she broke off her claws and landed on top of me, her stomach mouth opening up, ready to take a bite out of me, that's when I sensed it, the "aura" coming from within her stomach mouth, the feeling of nothingness, it was very similar to what I was looking for, a doorway. The entire time that I was on the ground, I was slowly leaking the collar of my jacket underneath her tendril that was still wrapped around my neck, because she eased up the tendril around my neck I was able to cough out: "My, my, what would Fell think?" (I guess, not much now, huh?) after which, the collar of my jacket erupted in spikes, creating a spiked collar around my neck, impaling her tendril that was around my neck. Using the pain from that as a distraction to lower her defences for my darling's attack, because at her command the back of my jacket, that was buried underneath me, under the ground, formed into four, long, sharp spikes, erupting from beneath the ground around me, aiming directly at Wolf. "You flirt!" she laughed through pain "You're going to make Fortissimo jealous!" I heard her growl as my spikes pierced her chest, shoulder and leg, the fourth one was bitten off by her Stomach Mouth, there's the stinging sensation again. More tendrils erupted from her, wrapping around my spikes, trying to prevent them from piercing her through, her long limbs pushed her upward, and heaved her forward, trying to tear herself off them. She hit the ground before swiftly getting back up. Turning toward me, still smiling, she paused to shake out the pain. Her stitches set to work on her wounds. "Tricky, tricky tricky" she smirked.

I got to my feet, retracting all the spikes, forming the jacket once again, my darling had gotten to work on healing my chest underneath the bandages, pulling out the Wolf's claws and closing up the wounds they inflicted. Usually I'd be more concentrated on the pain, but I was more captivated by the unfavorable position I found myself in, mainly because Knitty had landed directly between me and the building which housed the source of her return, "But back to the point, they are indeed fools, fools who have left behind useful information and tools..." I started, stalling for time as I thought of my options, of which there wasn't many because time was running out, the longer I stuck around near Knitty's hideout, the longer I fuelled the conflict between us, which in turn would eventually attract Slendy's attention "Funny isn't it? So many people gone..." I kept on talking, at this point considering a retreat, this was becoming too much effort to simply clarify something and yet... I couldn't leave without, at the very least knowing if what was behind her return, could possibly assist me in the breakdown of the veils. "Sunshine, Lucia, Roy, hell, even your little 'brother' has been put back on the shelf." (Apparently, since this encounter, he has been taken off of it) I kept on bringing names from her past, in hopes of extending this stand-off as I let the last bit of my plan sink in, yes, if I were to find out if what was behind her return could have an effect on the veils, then I was going to have to go to the source. "Only you left to stop me. An unlikely hero." Hah! What a funny notion, but it is what it is.

"Now there is something I never expected to hear. Well I can't very well let you get away with harming my family." She planted her bare feet firmly into the ground, realising that my only way inside the building was through her. "Are you enjoying the pain, Calavera? You went so long without it." The building wasn't the target anymore, nah, now it was the source. "Oh I'm loving it, although it sucks that it tends to get in the way. So, I see you find yourself in a favourable position..." What a disappointment, even if this wasn't the power that I was looking for, it still packs enough of a punch to cause extensive difference to this eternal game people are stuck playing and there it is, just sitting there, not being used, pity. "Would you like a taste?" I formed two sharp edged spikes around my hands and started running at her, my new goal now, was the source. As I ran towards her, she didn't even move, in fact, she retracted all of her joints back into place, once again taking the form of a person, she did send out a tendril out as I got closer, which wrapped around my right arm, after which she punched it upwards, dislocating my right shoulder, but I had to ignore the pain at that point, as I aimed my left spike covered hand at her stomach-mouth, predictably, she bit at it, the pain was immeasurable, if I had to block out the dislocation of my right shoulder, once the pain of the bite hit, I no longer had to block it out, the shoulder pain had turned into an annoying itch in contrast, but regardless, I was in, this is where the hard part came. I now had to let go my control of Claude's body and give it over to my darling, as I started to concentrate my attention on a part of me that was now within her, slowly disintegrating, as I shifted my 'self' into that spike that was within her stomach, I could faintly hear Wolf exclaiming "Delicious!" My memory of what happened next is a bit vague, being inside of her, within that unknown thing's power, surrounded by it, suffocating within it, burning and freezing at the same time and then it happened, the thing that was a clear indicator that whatever it was, it wasn't going to work, the wave of pain that hit me like a freight train, I had to shift my 'self' back into Claude's body outside, otherwise I would meet the same fate that Claude's hand did inside of her. I'm assuming that's when Fortissimo, who was in control of Claude's body now, severed his hand that was stuck inside Knitty's stomach. This is where, some weird shit started happening...

The first thing I remember seeing was how Claude's body was being flung away from Knitty, with Fortissimo's help, I remember seeing the bloody stump of where Claude's left hand used to be, shooting out blood as Fortissimo flung his body away, gaining distance between us and Knitty. Once we landed on the ground, I remember seeing Claude's body clutch the bloody stump and yell out "NOT IT, NOT IT!" to note, Fortissimo was in control of the body, while I was recovering from my trip, she doesn't talk through the body, those words that came out of Claude's body were not uttered by her, nor me, nor was it Claude himself, instead, they were uttered by... Kelevra. At the time, I didn't have the time to figure it out, I was still recovering from the pain I just experienced, lost and uncoordinated, but I could see Wolf's tendrils reaching out for our body, one wrapping around our handless arm; the other wrapping around our neck, pulling our body towards her stomach-mouth. As we were being dragged, I could feel Fortissimo sending herself to the body's legs, coating them in herself, digging deep into the ground, preventing Wolf from pulling us any further. Shortly afterwards I could feel her movement all around me, she was taking over the body completely, much like she did when we were facing Morningstar and I was fully content on letting her take care of Wolf from that point on, but... Kelevra yet again interrupted, the thoughts he left within me, the memories, the feeling of respect for Knitty, the sheer desire of facing off against her suddenly became overbearing and I could feel myself, making Claude's body rip my darling off of itself, forcing her to retreat back inside of us to mend our wounds, I was in control of the body and yet... I wasn't "NO! This is our conflict! OURS!" words that were spoken by the body, but not me, directed at Wolf, words of a person from beyond the grave. It's a pity that, that type of resolve didn't translate physically, because as soon as I was in control again, I immediately collapsed on the ground, with all the pain from all the injuries instantly catching up, not to mention the lack of recovery time from exposure to whatever it was that was behind Knitty's resurrection  "I have to admit, I respect that you're not letting her save you so I'll make this quick" I don't know what allowed Kelevra's left over thoughts and desires within me, to drown me, it never happened before, was it a side-effect of being exposed to Wolf's creature? I don't know, but what I did know, was that I was back in control and about to be devoured by Knitty "Thank you for such an exhilarating dance, Calavera" There was nothing to thank me for, the dance was not at it's full potential, from both sides apparently. Fortissimo is a part of me, as I am a part of her, me preventing you, Knitty, for facing my darling, meant that I didn't go full out (Not of my own volition) and the fact that in that very moment, where you had the opportunity to finish me off, you wasted it on your little speech about respect, meant that your heart wasn't in the fight as well, not fully. That's when Malik interrupted Knitty, by holding Fell hostage and offering a trade off, the rest of what happened, you can read here.

But hey, chin up Knitty! Even though your dear beloved is most likely a vegetable right now, next time we throw down, your heart WILL be fully in it and as for me, now that I know of the possibility of drowning within Past Kelevra's emotions that he left behind, I know that there's something to work on there and I promise you, the next time we meet, me and my darling will not allow anything to hold us back and we will introduce you to the nothingness that I will plunge all of existence into.

You have my word.