Quote:
Backdated to March 15th, 2021
How had this happened.
Jangunnite stared blankly at the hand extended in front of his face: his own hand, but… unfamiliar. His once delicate fingers, long and slender, now looked somehow as though the joints protruded more noticeably, skin pinched tight over them. His fingers were capped in an inch of thick, dark talon. He stared at his digits, mind unconvinced and uncomprehending of what he saw there. This wasn’t his body. He was human.
As if responding to his confusion, the muscles in his back shifted. Something twitched at his side: the delicate petals of the blossoming bud at the end of his tail. His tail. It wasn’t within his vision enough to stare at, but he could feel it behind him, reacting to his own emotions.
“It’s not a very common occurrence, but definitely not unheard of,” the young woman who had been tending to him in the Negaverse infirmary told him- a bit somberly, he thought? “There are a handful of agents who have been permanently changed by chaos’ magic.”
Her voice sounded strange to him, as if there was a very slight echo to everything she said. He wasn’t sure if that was a temporary effect of having just woken up from being passed out, or if it was something more permanent caused by his current… affliction. Janggunite studied his fingers silently, thoughts tripping as he tried to comprehend how- or why.
He’d been in Negaspace with his brother. Given that neither could teleport to or from Negaspace, they’d almost never had the opportunity to explore such a bizarre world freely.
But they had, this time.
It had felt like nowhere should be off limits. They were agents of the Negaverse. They didn’t need to fear chaotic anomalies as an Order individual would. They didn’t need to fear a random youma assault as a senshi would. Negaspace was basically their source of power. What did they have to be concerned about? So they had gone without a thought to wherever their feet carried them.
The Earth Academy. It had seemed obvious they should visit for what it meant to their place of birth. They could have been knights who’d trained there, if they existed a millenia ago… The remains of the building were blocked off and under guard, but it was hardly difficult to slip by two humans who weren’t taking their task very seriously.
It apparently wasn’t common for idiots to betray very specific instructions in a highly chaos-infused area.
So they’d gone in, and-
And…
Pretty much everything after that happened in a blur. They certainly hadn’t gotten far. Something had stopped them, and he remembered the fear and dread much more potently than he remembered the exact specifics of the creature that had intercepted them. It had almost seemed like it exploded into havoc around them, poisoning Janggunite and his brother with some toxic spores and yanking every scrap of energy out of them until they’d collapsed.
Janggunite had woken in the Negaspace infirmary, like this. He’d been told his general had pulled him and Sepiolite from the Academy, but the damage was already done.
Very little had been brought down into the Earth Academy since it had been dragged into Negaspace, and it seemed as though Chaos had taken heavy root during that time. Chaos-infused crystals had begun to sprout along the walls. And youma had snuck into the area to claim it as their territory. Janggunite and his brother had trespassed there, and the creatures had attacked with vicious intent.
He didn’t understand the magic that had caused this, but apparently no one did. The youma had infused with them, and that… was just how it was.
Them? Both of them? “And Sepiolite?” Janggunite asked, slowly lifting his gaze from his fingers to the woman.
“He’s… in a similar condition,” she admitted.
His focus fell back to his hands and the dark claws at his fingertips. His tail shuffled behind him, but he hadn’t yet been faced with a mirror. He wondered if that was intentional. “We’re both like this?” He asked, as if trying to claw at some kind of different, better answer. “How long will it last?”
Her sigh was soft and terse, posture shifting uncomfortably, but there was something like resolve in her voice, as well. “It’s permanent,” she told him resolutely. “There’s not an ‘undo’ button for this. Your body has been permanently infused with that creature in the Academy, and you’ll-”
“When I power down, it’ll not be noticeable, then? I’ve never seen monster people walking around Destiny City.” It wouldn’t be relevant to most of his life. He could live like this for the few hours a week he spent powered up.
“Well, no, they don’t usually,” the nurse agreed. “But then, half-youma are unable to power down. This is just… how they are. All the time. They live here, in Negaspace, instead of in the city. It’s- I can’t say for sure, to be honest, but I believe it’s a little more common for half-youma to have been with the Negaverse long enough to be able to teleport, so even if it is a change from their normal life, it is still as convenient as possible.”
It felt peculiarly like he didn’t understand what she was saying. Maybe the pieces were there, but they weren’t clicking. Janggunite couldn’t teleport, so he couldn’t be like this. That seemed reasonable.
He couldn’t be like this, so why was he like this?
“They live here?” He prompted, confused.
He could tell the girl was trying to keep calm, to explain things gently and try and be reasonable with him, but Janggunite didn’t understand. He didn’t get it. “Yes,” she told him evenly. “They live here.” After a silent beat, she added, “You’ll live here.”
Janggunite had never felt rage so immediately potent spike so hard in him that he could practically feel it as a physical entity. His tail lashed, snapping out hard and thumping against the bed where he’d lain unconscious just a handful of moments earlier. “I will not live here,” he spat. He could feel the points of sharp teeth pinching at his lips as they drew back. “I have a home I live in. I have a job I have to go to. I have a family I need to keep up with. I won’t stay. Here.”
She didn't miss a beat. “You have to.” Her voice was still measured. “Because you can’t power down, your aura is a beacon for everything around you. Order will seek you out, and if they found you, if they saw you with any of that family you’re keeping up with, there would be blood. Even a lieutenant should understand that.”
The rage was there, simmering, but her words were chilly, warring with the hot ire, diluting it. Order... would hurt his friends and family if they saw him like this with them- Would his family even want to be near him now that he looked like a beast?
The thought shot wickedly across his mind, and Janggunite's body went still.
If he looked like this, it wouldn't matter if he could live in the city. He couldn't do anything or go anywhere. Even if it wasn't Order who saw him, even if it was just any random stranger... Things that weren't human were not well-accepted among their race. His life, it would be completely uprooted to him, so long as he had these features. He couldn't- He couldn't, he couldn't-
His breath came quickly now, short sharp little gasps that made him feel bizarrely like a child, trapped by panic and asthma and frightened of causing himself that struggle and only making it worse in his fear.
The nurse swooped toward him, taking up a perch at his side and swiping up his hand to give a reassuring squeeze. He found himself squeezing back almost reflexively. "It's a lot to take in, at first," she whispered gently. "It's a lot of change, unanticipated and terrible. But I promise you, you'll be able to settle. You'll be able to adjust. Others have before you. The groundwork is already paved to set you up here. Just give it time. You just need time."
