Pearl & Quasit (Pt. 36)

Quasit solicited an umbrageous smirk, "As long as they're just harassing and not evaginating us with cannonfire we'd still be in the running for our prize money."

Pearl, deigning a reply, interrupted when the Mariri broke off, away from the Queen. Approached the stasis barrier. Upon closer inspection, the Mariri nearly shimmered in horizontal waves as it moved, as if here and there out of timephase with the Phengodidae. The two separate bodies opened their mouths to speak, voices spectrally pitched in both high and low modulations, wavering in mesial frequencies. "Release us and our Queen. Negotiate our freedom. Immediately."