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 Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 4:49 pm
1530hrs"I don't need anything from you," she snaps.
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 4:51 pm
15:30hrsIt felt like a tableau at the end of an eighties movie, everyone all smiles and nicknames, and then the world shifted. Lily noticed the change in light first, and her nostrils flared for a moment as she briskly exhaled. "What the fuuu--" she began, glancing down at Jamie. " ---rick. What the frick." She was looking to Lady for answers, but no more attached to this part of hallway over another, so she began to move, boots following bare feet.
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 4:56 pm
15:30hrs"Maybe," he replied indifferently, "but you're all we have. Help them out, if not me, Lady." Lucas cast an apologetic glance to Eve to be stuck in the middle, watching Jamie and Lily between sparring with Lady.
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 5:00 pm
15:30hrsStuck between Lady and Lucas and whatever was going on between them, Jamie looked awkward again. To be fair, though, that was his state of being roughly 80% of the time. Not to mention the fact that they were suddenly somewhere else, somewhere he obviously didn't recognize, and as much as he trusted Lady, he was glad he had the others with him for this.
"L-Lily, I told you I'm eighteen. You don't have to... y'know," he whispered with a huff, hanging close to her. Just because he was small didn't mean he was actually twelve.
He was curious, though, "w-where are we going...?"
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 5:06 pm
1530hrsLady's hands clench spasmodically, a twitch of the small muscles of her wrists. "This is my home," she says. "Where I live. With my--" She takes a left at the sound of footsteps not their own, and seems to have quite forgotten the question by the time they reach the next juncture. The tunnels must span most of downtown, at least, but Lady doesn't flag more than once. She stops at a flight of white stone stairs cut like wrought iron and points upward. "Up," she says. "Go." Lady starts to walk away, thinks better of it, stops and turns to Lucas. "Next time I ******** talk to you and tell you you're in danger? ******** listen to me!" 1600hrsone hour until moonriseOn the other side of the staircase is a recognizable library. Somehow they've ended up in Blackfriars, the graduate studies library on Rider-Waite's administrative campus. The tall colonnades support three stories of the collected literature and research of seventy-five years of alumni. The main difference between the real world and this one is that the central space of the library, always open to the roof, is now open to the elements. Rain pours down from overhead. The trapdoor from which they emerged swings shut behind them, and disappears.
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 5:10 pm
16:00 hrsThere were a lot of sights to take in, but first things first: Eve tapped Lucas on the shoulder. "I should let you take a break," she said. "So go ahead and put me down. I'll be alright."
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 5:23 pm
16:00hrsWhen she emerged from the staircase, Lily took a few steps forward into the scenery, taking in what could be seen. She stared up at the ceiling of Blackfriar's in silent awe, letting the rain patter on her face for a moment before she remembered there was eyeliner to be ruined. Wiping the rain away, she returned to the general assembly, testing out the weight of one of the bookshelves with one hand. It might be easy enough to climb, if only it would hold her weight... "There's supposed to be a roof," she spoke softly, as if talking too loudly might break the illusion they were in. It was all so surreal.
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 5:39 pm
15:30hrsBoyfriend, Lucas finished mentally, but not out loud, not knowing what else she could be hiding. His eyes turned to Lady, expression worn. "Give me a reason to trust you, Red." And he ascended the stairs with the others. 16:00hrs"If you wish," he replied to Eve with a small smile. Lucas carried her to a seat clear of the rain and most of the wreckage, kneeling to put her in a seated position. He took her hand to squeeze gently for a moment, and then stood, looking to Jamie and Lily. Pale eyes turned briefly towards Lady, his smile faltering and disappearing entirely. "I'm not surprised she didn't mention. Welcome to the Otherworld." Looking around, he shook his head and looked up to the sky. "I guess now's as good a time as any to pool our knowledge. Unless you guys have a different idea."
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 5:50 pm
15:30hrsThis place seemed like an awfully strange one to call home, but Lady hadn't exactly been the most stereotypically normal person Jamie had ever met. To say he knew enough about her to judge would've been a gross overstatement. The only doubt in his mind came in the form of Lucas's words. They were far too close for him to miss them, but he didn't say a word about it.16:00hrsNow in the library, a place Jamie had admittedly never been even in the normal Ashdown, he stood, looking around. There was rain falling through the ceiling, and everything held a twinge of something not quite right, but he couldn't put his finger on what. While he was looking up through the hole, he heard Lucas's brief introduction.
"I'm..." His gaze lingered upward a moment longer, his body fixated on the sight and the sound and the smell of the rain. "I'm not, um, sure I can really help," he admitted, looking sullen. It was just like Jamie to get down on himself. Still, he moved closer to where Lucas had settled Eve. "But... I'll try."
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2016 11:51 pm
1700hrsmoonriseIt begins as something like pain. It is echoes, the prickling of sleeping limbs just now waking up. Quick as a blink, fast as a switchblade, the moon appears overhead, full and beautiful and pale. Its light reflects off the raindrops, off Lucas's prosthetic arm, runs Lily's eyeliner down her face in rivulets. It gathers in the misty droplets in Jamie's hair. The puddles that have gathered on ancient hardwood reflect their stolen light, and then-- they-- transform--Quote: Please write your character's experience of their first transformation in your response!
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 5:52 am
1700hrsAs they waited, in stressed silence, Eve took a deep breath and called from her seated position, "I would like... to say a prayer. If anyone wants to join me." She scooted herself closer to the edge of the table, which was more exposed to the rain, and held out her hands for others to take, if they were willing. "Dearest Moon,
as the last shadow leaves your face,
let it be so also for our fears,
and welcome us into your light's embrace,
so that we may know your blessings"There were layers of silky fur sprouting along her face and arms, giving her rippling goosebumps, mere seconds after the moonlight hit them. "Oh, sweet Moon --
you have brought us together in love,
and we thank you so; and we call upon you
to watch over us from your place above,
so that our love stays true in the changes to come."Eve's nails were darkening and thickening into dull claws. She embraced her kindred in turn, gave them a gentle kiss to the forehead, and whispered to each of them that she loved them. It was the flood of sensations shifting over, each piece from the following weeks falling seamlessly into place, that overwhelmed more than the changes in appearance. Fingertips ballooned and calloused over into toepads, taking in the texture of an impossible amount of floor. A spray of whiskers prickled their way out from her snout -- which could just barely register how the raindrops stirred the air nearby -- and at the same time the smell and sound of it doubled in their vibrance, and the pointed edges of her ears became cold and a little numb as they grew farther away from the relative warmth of her head. And, of course, her legs. Eve could feel the blood rushing through them for the first time in a very long time. They were weak from misuse, and stubborn to listen, like an old radio not quite tuned in to a desired signal... but they could move. In the woman's place there was now a bright-eyed silver fox, shaking and wobbling and bracing with her arms-turned-forelegs as she tried clumsily to figure out how to balance.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 10:19 am
17:00hrsA prayer?Of all the things Lucas thought might be useful, that was possibly at the bottom of the list. Talk, his mind said. Comfort, his heart said. Sighing, he nodded to Eve's suggestion and moved to Jamie, putting an arm around him in a brotherly fashion. "It's okay to admit you don't know or that you're scared," he said softly, "just know you're not alone. We're here for each other." He stood in silence across from Eve, giving Jamie and Lily a chance to hold their matron's hands - and his, if they wanted. Moon praise fell from the woman's lips and for a moment, he thought how Deacon would approve. He thought of Autumn, Zac, Carin - friends in dark times. Of Jeremy, Lady, Aleksy - strangers, but helpful (though debatable on the twins). Of his Rylan, his Thorne, who he hoped like hell were far from there and safe. And as his pale eyes turned over the three faces he barely knew but held tightly to his heart, he thought of family. That...maybe they could handle this. Where the moonlight lingered, fur began to grow. It wasn't immediately obvious on Lucas first, wearing jeans and a loose button up that was rolled to his elbows, but it quickly swept over him as if what was happening to Eve was in tandem to himself. Fur rippled over his arm and up his neck, silent and drawn in like a breeze over a field; where it didn't grow on his prosthetic, the mass and joints shifted, smooth and silent. Lucas was dimly aware of a pressure there, but he couldn't feel anything - which was a blessing, insofar as he was concerned. He drew in a breath and exhaled through a muzzle, rows of sharp teeth, practically feeling his stubble grow and fill. His black hair grew and surged down his spine, bowing it, and by the time his hands hit the floor, they were human no longer - paws, large paws, bent and heavy with fur and claw. Soft, triangular ears lifted from the dark fur, his snout longer than Eve's, narrower, his tail giving him balance. His prosthetic back leg was near unidentifiable from his normal two, though the metal arm remained, functional and furless. Lucas was large as a man and it was no different as a beast: over half as high as Jamie, the gray wolf shook out his predominately dark fur and moved forward to the fox, pressing his muzzle to her side for support.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 3:39 pm
1700hrsJamie was scared. For the briefest of moments here and there, calm had taken over, but it was surface level at best. Each step they'd taken up to this point had felt so surreal, enough that he'd started to let himself believe maybe he was only dreaming or maybe things weren't as grave as the knowledge that they were going to become an animals might sound. But then Jamie blinked. He blinked and the moon was rising.
That's when things got real.
There was a ringing in his ears when Lucas came up beside him, and he barely acknowledged the touch before it was gone, but he managed to mutter a shaky, "I am scared..." It was difficult to admit, but the fear was very real and Jamie was very frozen by it. Any attempts at keeping his chin up only moments before were thrown out the window.
They weren't in a goddamn movie. This was real life. Or... it was supposed to be. Magic didn't exist, monsters and fairies and all of those things were only stories parents told their children before bedtime. That's what Jamie believed. Yet here they were, and Jamie realized that was only what he used to believe. Now, with it all right in front of his eyes, he was forced to accept it or face the consequences alone.
He took Eve's hand and squeezed it, unable to look her in the eye. He took Lucas's too, his gaze still locked at the space between them. When she started her prayer, though he wasn't sure what it all meant, Jamie knew everything up to this point and this point on top of it were real. It was all real and Jamie was so scared.
What if something bad happened in this Other Ashdown? What if he never saw his parents again or his precious fish? What if he never got to laugh with Shiloh anymore? Maybe it wouldn't be awful at all and he was blowing things way out of proportion, but Jamie still worried and his heart still ached and pounded as he listened to Eve's gentle voice, felt her soft touch. There was no way he could hold back the tears.
It was quiet at first, but soon it became sobbing as the hands he was holding began to turn and his own hands did the same and he couldn't hold anything anymore. It hurt like when he slept on his arm wrong, and his head felt like someone was squeezing it until everything elongated and shifted into something entirely foreign. The fur that sprouted and spread along his skin was like a reflection of the moonlight that spawned it, white and pure like snow, save for his hands—no, his small paws, spotted in brown.
Jamie didn't remember closing his eyes, but when he opened them again he was laid out on the floor, rainwater splashing against his puffy coat. When he rose, he shook instinctually, but hadn't yet figured out how to walk properly or even lift his ears from where they were pinned against his skull. Nose twitching, heart still hammering a mile a minute, Jamie curled in on himself, an unbelievably round little snowball against the bleak backdrop of the Otherworld. He had become a hare, and he gazed on in mute wonder as he realized he was in the presence of both a fox and a wolf. That made two, he raised his head to look for the third.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 8:00 pm
17:00hrsLily joined the prayer circle in silence, taking a hand on either side. For all her efforts, she could hide the way her arms quivered and shook, even as Eve's calm voice floated around them, soothing and serene. She tried to close her eyes and follow suit, but shudders nipped at her chest and made her nervous, her eyes darting around at faces and scenery and the rain. This all felt too simple, too easy--where was the catch? She wished Eve had made pamphlets or something, so she could at least mouth the words. The moon rose, and that persistent itch Lily had been feeling spread out from behind her eyes, rippling over her skin wherever the light trickled down. Eve hugged her, and maybe she murmured something, but the only thing Lily could feel was the boiling panic that bubbled up in her stomach. This whole time she's been playing it cool, that none of this bothered her, that if she closed her eyes all of this would be a strange fever dream that she'd wake up from if she could just punch herself. She'd told herself so many times that it felt like less of a reassurance and more of a truth, and the only reason she'd been so calm in the previous weeks was on the promise that everything has just been a twisted joke, no matter what Lucas or Eve or Zac said, no matter what Nasir or Wil were so willing to believe. She'd played herself, she realized in the light of the pale moon. This was real. This was happening. And she was not cool with it. "Wait--" She looked down at one hand, and her painted fingernails thickened and stretched before her very eyes. Her breath quickened, and she clenched her fists, fighting the change, bidding it to go away, but all she got for her efforts was a lance of pain as her knuckles cracked and popped, spreading over with soft dark fur. "--wait, no no no--" The world began to grow up around her, legs twisting and bending as they reformed below. "Lucas,-- Eve," she begged, her voice trembling, but the man was covered in fur and bending strangely, impossibly so. Eve was already silver, moving lithely through her changes like a well-practiced dance, and Jamie was a vision of snow, his eyes firmly shut while his ears sprouted up and away from the receding curls in his hair. She wanted to be strong, to tell him everything was alright, but with every palpitation her breathing became shorter, faster, more harried. She was alone in this, just as the rest of them were. Dark fur spread across her face she felt the pressure as her sinuses pushed forward, warping the bends of her distinctive nose into something wider, flatter, more snout-like, and while her limbs shriveled and shrank it felt like her torso was stretching, pulling. The tail she was familiar with, and it whipped around her like a fluffy snake, thrashing even as she fell backwards, no longer able to support herself on two legs. Lily's change was anything but graceful or serene--she was not a fighter at heart, but she fought this, twisting and snaking while all the while her hyperventilations morphed into frightened chirps and chatters. Her teeth became needles, sharp as the raised hackles of her fur, wide paws clawing at nothing as her body twisted, resenting every move, every shift. This was too real, this was too real. When the world stopped turning, a small mammal stood on wide-set paws, with rounded ears and a snout shorter than either the wolf or the fox in the room. She sniffed the air and screeched, backpedaling into a bookcase with claws drawn. With nowhere else to go, she spun around and began to climb, clumsy claws tearing into the shelves and throwing books down in her rapid ascent. Only when she was three rows up did she she stop and glance down, chest fluttering as beady eyes watched the others. Softly, the newly-made fisher cat squeaked in distress, curling in on herself on the impromptu perch. She shut her eyes and bared her teeth, as if maybe, if she wished one more time, it would all turn out to be fake after all.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 8:08 pm
As she stabilized, and came more to her senses, Eve's first instinct was to talk to them all again. See if they were alright. The few short minutes the transformation took was a stressful, demanding experience. So, turning her head, she glanced over to the quivering hare nearby on the floor, and said-- "Ouruorrraaarrrrrrrooo?"
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