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 Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2013 2:08 am
Being able to shift back into his natural form and just run around was something Erebus had sorely missed.
...Perhaps he should have questioned the white lock, adorned by a kitsune and a Cerberus along with chains that firmly curled around his tail. He did, briefly, but once he found that he couldn't get it off, Erebus had simply thought it looked pretty cool anyway, and decided to take a nice run around the Not-Forbidden Forest.
Besides, he needed to clear his head. There were gaps in his memory, gaps of which he had offered to Excalibur. Being a dog (or a puppy, rather) again after a long period of time of being not able to be one, was an exceedingly strange feeling. The breeze through his fur as he ran under the shade of the trees exhilarated him, but even a puppy had its limits.
Panting, he sat on his haunches to take a break, tail wagging in content.
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Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2013 10:44 am
The blanks in her memory aside, Xiu was feeling good as new after that long and tiring adventure. She had woken up especially early that day with the intention of taking a stroll out to the forest, but at some point, the ghoul had apparently decided that it would be more fun to trot around in her natural form instead of her humanoid form. Maybe it was just because she lost that privilege during the recent fiasco, but she just felt the urge to spend some time as a baku for a while.
So, she had prepared nothing but a small coin purse with a strap that contained her eyephone and some silver seeds before setting off, humming cheerfully to herself all the while. Upon arriving at the edge of the forest, she paused, setting the coin purse down before working to undo the skull pin that adorned her obi. The moment it was unfastened, the effect was immediate. One second, Xiu was a 5'3" ghoul, and then next, she was...this tiny baku.
Plopping back on her butt, she awkwardly lifted the strap of the coin purse, adjusting it until she could sling it over one of her shoulders like a real bag. After stuffing her skull pin into the safety of her makeshift bag, she cheerfully proceeded to make her way into the sea of trees, her wispy-tipped tail swishing back and forth. What a perfect day for a walk!
She only made it a few meters in before she realized that she wasn't the only one bounding around the forest this morning. To be honest though, it wasn't the puppy that she had spotted first, but it was the glint of light reflecting off of his lock that had caught her attention. Almost immediately, she glanced from Erebus' lock to her own, which hung at her hip and was fastened with a number of little chains like a belt. Hmm, interesting, so that person had one of these locks too! Were they another student like herself, then?
Ever happy to socialize, the baku slipped out of the shadows, approaching the puppy from behind before abruptly--but gently--pawing at his tail.Melodine Cantus I couldn't remember if they were both supposed to be in their nat. form, so here you go >__>b
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Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2013 11:04 pm
Erebus was in the midst of licking his paw; grooming his fur was important business after all, when something batted at his tail. Black ears immediately perked straight up and he moved, up on his paws and whirling around to regard whatever or whoever it was with a curious brown-eyed gaze.
!! A pink... uh, tapir, was it? And, oh! It had a white lock too! His tail wagged harder. That meant that that this was probably a student right?
...There was something vaguely familiar about her but he couldn't quite put his paw on it. Instead, Erebus decided to introduce himself, noise twitching as he tried to picked up her scent. "Hi! I'm Erebus!"
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Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2013 11:27 pm
Wooow, what a friendly puppy! Or well, student, rather! Xiu's tail seemed to match his own, speeding up as his did. However, when he suddenly spoke up to introduce herself, her tail abruptly stopped. There was a long moment of silence, and then...
...She laughed. Lifting a foreleg, she gently set it on the boil's nose, her tail thumping against the ground in amusement. If she could smile right now, she would probably be wearing a pretty big one. "Hi, Erebus! I'm Xiu. How nice to meet you!"
A beat.
"Though not for the first time, I guess!"
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Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2013 11:46 pm
...Oh.
Well, that would explain why she seemed so familiar! Having no access to his natural form when they were where they were meant he couldn't really identify her scent either. When it finally dawned upon him who exactly she was, his tail only wagged harder, happy to see her again. And she was okay too! "Definitely not." He agreed, with a bark of happiness. "Though if you wanted to be technical about it, I guess we never actually met like thi-- Oh yeah," He should explain why he was a puppy, right? "I'm a Cerberus."
"How have you been though? I haven't seen you since you know, the tower, and the keys..." She had seemed fine, and hey, she had probably recovered from her fatigue since then, but it didn't mean Erebus wouldn't worry.
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Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 1:23 am
Beaming (as best as a tapir creature could), Xiu sat back down, her tail waving so hard that it looked like she was attempted to take flight. "Oh--a Cerberus! That's neat!" She chirped, looking genuinely awed, "I think I've actually met another Cerberus student! And um, I'm a baku--a dream eater!--which is why I look like...well."
She pointedly looked down at herself, only to glance up at the boil's question. Her tail swished at a slightly more reasonable pace as she laughed sheepishly at the question.
"I'm okay! Er, better at least. I'm...sorry for that whole fiasco at the tower." After running up and down six flights of stairs and beating things up for a good few hours, she had been pretty exhausted. Fortunately, a little sleep was all that she had needed to recover.
"What about you though? Have you been okay?" Ever the worrywart, she couldn't help but let her gaze sweep over the boil in concern, as if looking for any injuries or signs that he wasn't in tip-top shape since their last encounter. Aside from the odd lock though...
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Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 10:14 am
"That's... probably my brother." Erebus laughed, brown eyes twinkling. He wasn't awfully surprised of course, not when Thack got out around school a lot more than he did. "You know, the one I said was especially fond of keys..." Hmm. Where was Thack these days, anyway? With a slight frown, he pawed at an itch behind his ear. "Baku? Ooh, that sounds really cool!"
Dream eating? He certainly was quite curious about that, but only beamed, tail waving back and forth in relief when she assured him she was alright. "It's fine, really! I'm totally up for giving piggyback rides anytime... though I'm not entirely sure about puppybacking..." It was something he had never tried before...
"Yeah, I'm fine! Except well..." Erebus stood and attempted to nose at the lock around the base of his tail but... tail...
His eyes glazed over as the puppy in him promptly decided that this was a good moment to chase his tail. It took running in circles for a few rounds for Erebus to shake himself out of it and then remind himself that Xiu was still there. "Uh... you know... The lock. Thing. You have it too!" A black paw pointed towards the one around her waist.
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Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:53 pm
Brother? ...Oh, yeah, that would make a lot of sense, and she did recall seeing him with a key now that Erebus mentioned it. "His name is...Thackery, right?" Honestly, it had been a long time since she had seen the boil (outside of memories of her king-self or Ixyguin, that was), and it hadn't been under the happiest of circumstances either...
But enough of that for now. She was relieved to hear Erebus was well, letting out a small laugh at his mention of "puppybacking". "No, I wouldn't do that to you. Even in this form, I don't think it'd be very...practical." Not at all, in fa--
--...was he chasing his tail?
Xiu stared at him blankly for a moment before she had to turn away, her shoulders quivering from suppressed laughter. Now if that wasn't cute, she didn't know what was. Turning back only when she had composed herself, the ghoul nodded, instinctively reaching towards the lock that was hanging by her hip. "Yes...though I'm hoping to get rid of it soon! I know it's not supposed to be a big deal, but it makes me a little uncomfortable to have anyways." And she wanted all of her memories back.
All 58 of them why
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Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 11:25 pm
"Yep!" His tail thumped happily against the ground. Of course, Erebus had no inkling of what transpired between the Violet King and the Red King. It wasn't as if he actually remembered who the Red King was anyway.
The puppy still looked rather embarrassed-- sorry Xiu, dogs were dogs-- but managed to grin sheepishly back at her. "Well, at least we haven't lost... whatever memories we lost forever!" (Thankfully, he hadn't lost as many memories as Xiu.)
"So..." He said, an idea suddenly popping into mind. "How fast can a baku run?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2013 12:36 am
Noting that he was still looking a little sheepish, Xiu awkwardly (and wobbly) got up on her hind legs so that she could pat him on the head. Fortunately, she made it back down into a sitting position without tumbling over first. "Mm...that's true! I'm glad that we can get them back. Even if I...don't remember what I lost, I'd like to get them all back anyways."
She cocked her head to the side at his question, tapir ears flopping as she stared at him curiously. Finally, she laughed, rising to her feet.
"Faster than a puppy!" She chirped teasingly, her tail brushing the ground behind her.
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Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2013 3:32 am
Getting pats were always nice, even if it came from a fellow animal student. It certainly put a smile on his face, because she almost seemed like she would topple over from trying, but thankfully, she didn't.
He would have caught her if she did anyway. Or at least tried to. He was certainly taller than her in humanoid form, but they were roughly around each other's size in this form.
"Well, there's only one way to find out!" Erebus said, leaping to his feet (or paws, rather) as she got the hint. Crouching into a starting position; nose to the ground, tail in the air, he was certainly ready for a race. "Ready when you are!"
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Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2013 7:04 pm
She wasn't sure how her leisurely stroll through the forest had suddenly turned into a natural form race with a friend but...you know what, she wasn't really going to question it. Although it deviated from her original plans, she couldn't really complain since it just made her day all the more exciting and fun.
Moving to stand beside Erebus, she made sure that they were nose to nose before she crouched down, tail lashing in the air. "Okay, ready? One...two...three!"
And then she bolted forward.
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Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:26 am
He dashed forward on the count of three, tongue lolling out of his mouth as they weaved through the trees. He had races like this before, a long time ago with his brothers, back before they had entered Amityville.
It was a while before he realized something and glanced in Xiu's direction. "Wait, where's the finish lin--"
...And promptly tripped over a tree root and became a rolling ball of black fur.
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Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 2:16 am
It had been a long, long time since Xiu had gone for a run in her natural form. It actually almost felt kind of awkward running on four legs again, but it only took her a minute or so before she managed to settle back into the movement. It felt nice to feel the wind whip by as she as Erebus dodged around trees and made their way to--
--........where, exactly? The dilemma hit her just as she saw the puppy glance her way. Turning to look at him, she opened her mouth to say something, only to let out an alarmed squeak when the he suddenly tripped.
"Erebus!" Oh no! Skidding to a stop, the baku laid her ears back as she hopped up and down on the spot, glancing from side to side in hopes that someone else was near and could help. However, as expected, there was no one around besides the two of them, and if she lingered too long...
Puffing out her cheeks (as best as the could in this form), the ghoul made her decision, dashing forward before curling up on herself so that she could roll after the boil.
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Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 7:04 am
On one hand (or paw), rolling down a grassy slope was making him pretty dizzy, and on the other, it was actually, well... pretty fun? Or maybe he was just getting so dizzy that his mind was just talking some strange mumbo jumbo. Erebus could have sworn that Xiu had called his name too-- Oh! "Xiu?" He called out, hoping she hadn't tripped like he did.
And then he slammed right into a tree trunk. It certainly stopped his momentum, but it also knocked the breath out of him, and a faint whimper escaped his lips. He would have lain there to rest longer if he hadn't remembered his friend. Where did she--
Brown eyes widened as he spotted the pink-striped tapir rolling down, heading straight for him. "O...oh no. Xiu!" The puppy's eyes widened, looking frantically about but no one else was around. He couldn't pick up a nearby scent either...
Erebus pressed himself against the tree trunk and braced for impact.
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