restinglichface | Open rp post!

Open rp post!

[Open rp post for Lup,
feel free to start a thread or leave a prompt for me!]

[Waking up in Ryslig can go one of two ways. For some, it's absolute hell. When Lup arrived, she'd been trapped within a living wall, stuck between thick layers of fat and muscle and flesh, screaming for help, helplessly trying to cut herself free. Even if she'd been let out eventually, even if six months have passed, the woman still sees darkness in her dreams, feelings living, breathing walls clenching in tight around her, feels the drip of digestive fluid burning down her arms...

But for Taako, like so many others, it comes so much easier. When he awakes, he's face down on an unfamiliar beach, with a grey sky above him, sand in his mouth and completely drenched from head to toe. Totally unharmed, except for the deep, red scratches he'd find all along his body. The salt water from his dip in the ocean still sting at his cuts, sand irritating at each wound. Wherever he is, however he's ended up here, the obvious solution to his immediate discomfort is to magic away the salt and sand with an easy cantrip.

Almost immediately though, just like Lup, Taako would feel the loss of his magic before even attempting a spell. For the elven twins, magic has always come as easy as breathing, always been so ingrained in their lives, always been what they've been good at. So the sudden loss of that arcane tug at their very beings is undeniable. Unmistakable.

Unthinkable.

There are no signs along the coast, no helpful directions to lead him to where he needs to go next. But there's a farmhouse not too far off, peaceful and quiet besides the squawking of chickens, where he might be able to at least find a warm shower.]

Edited 2018-09-22 05:47 (UTC)

[Everything fucking hurts.

He pulls himself up, panting and choking on granules, body stinging and muscles aching. This isn't the worst entry to a cycle he's ever had- the ship crashing in sixty-something comes to mind- but this sucks pretty hard. He shoots backwards, hissing in pain as he goes into a sitting position, looking around fervently as he tries to take stock.

One, he doesn't see the Starblaster anywhere. That's a problem. There isn't even wreckage, or something he can see in the distance. That's a bigger problem. Two, he can feelthe disconnection to magic, and it makes his heart beat faster and his head swim. He digs his fingers into the sand, pressing grains into his fingernails as he digs them into his palms, pushing in dirt to a slice near the bottom of his palm. He's learning not to care. He's forcing himself not to care.

Three, and maybe the worst of it all, he can't find Lup. There's no one here, there isn't noise or people or the Light somewhere nearby. The sky is clear of the Hunger, and if he's lucky, this is the beginning- provided she's out there.

If it's just him, he hopes it's near the end.

It takes him the better part of a half hour to haul himself to his feet, shake the sand out of his jacket, and take it off to drape over his shoulder. The emblazoned patch of the IPRE usually draws more questions of the wrong variety than he needs- he wants to blend in. So his wand is tucked still within arm's reach, a refusal to accept the feeling in his gut, and he drags his feet along the beach to the closest sign of civilization.

He doesn't go directly to the door, instead heading around the back, looking for where there's something lit. He just needs to recoup, and if he can't fight, he better figure out if these people are friendly before he shows his face. So he stalks closer, trying to rely on stealth, tying his jacket around his waist and creeping around the perimeter as he searches for signs of life.]

[Maybe not quite as alone as he thought he was.

The farm is never completely quiet, not when the hens are always enthusiastically clucking while they peck at the ground, doing their usual sweep of the farm grounds, let loose from their coop for the afternoon. And then there's the braying donkey somewhere out behind the barn and gentle sound of water lapping up against the shore from the nearby lake that cuts into the property.

But even with all of the soft noises around, the farm gives Taako a moment to catch his breath in peace, to give him the space to press his back against the wall and just collect his tumbling thoughts.

Though maybe not for as long as he actually needs.

A nearby door swings open, it's shrieking creak disrupting the peace of the moment, before it slams back shut behind someone. Taako's ears may perk up, listening for which way this newcomer is intending to go, but surprisingly, no footsteps follow. Which may account for the surprise when Lup silently rounds a corner and starts at the sight of her twin brother, elven and perfectly whole, his face exactly the same face she remembers.

She throws up her arms in surprise, covered in bright, vivid scales, before the slightest tremble appears across the skinny line of her shoulders, the expression flashing across her face not something that even Taako would be completely familiar with. She's looking at him like she did the very first time he came back from death aboard the Starblaster, like it had been months since she last saw him, like living without him for all that time hadn't even been living at all.

But no matter how startling her expression may be, the real shock is Lup's whole appearance. Though her face is a little thinner and her ears a little more colorful than before, it's her lower half that's most shocking to see.]

[It's nice that it's not silent, at first. There's animals, movement to mask his footsteps in muddy ground, even if he won't be able to hide his literal footsteps. He should be able to levitate, or blink, or find his way into another little corner of the universe. That's his job. He shapes the world. He bends the path until it's the one he wants to walk. But this mission has been full of adapting, hard lessons and trials that he has to face. So this is just another one.

Or, well, he thought it was. Until the situation changes, and drastically.

He hears more movement as the door opens, but no footsteps, and it's while he's listening is when she catches him off guard. He sees something round the corner, big and color and not human, and reaches for his wand on instinct, turning while crouched and still very close to himself. He can't fight, can't be ready for one right now, what is th--]

Lup?

[He blurts it out before his mind has the chance to comprehend any other piece of this picture, because he knows her, more than any person could know any other. She may look different, and hell, that's a whole segment on it's own, but he knows her. He always will.

She can watch as his eyes flick down and back up, trying to take in what's going on, mind spinning like wheels in the mud under his boots. He hates the way his heart is still pounding in his ears, in a situation he can't understand, in the way that whatever's happening here has broken the comfort of their reunion.

Steadily, he releases the grip on his wand.]

So you're gonna tell me this is a trick, right?

[Even looking the way she does, Taako still knows Lup better than anyone.]

Some trick, right?

[But his tight grip on his wand loosens, the recognition there even as Taako's so obviously trying to process all of this, so Lup doesn't delay in slipping forward, in closing the distance between them. Her new body moves silently, scales and bone and pure muscle sliding over the ground in practiced, powerful movements. If he'd been just two months earlier, she would have been tripping all over herself, half unable to hold her body up and half unable to control the direction of her tail. But she's had time now, nothing but time, so Lup manages to make it look natural, like she's been without legs her entire life.]

I know it's... It's a lot. But it's me, 'Ko. Still me.

[She holds out a hand for him, scales glinting in the light. It's only been a few months since she last laid eyes on him, but even that short time had been hell. She's not about to waste a second of their reunion being away from his side, but she tries to not just lunge at him, taking it slow and easy.]

This cycle we're livin' on monster time. Barry and I've been here for six months already.

[He can't help the instinctual seize as she comes close for the first time, the way she moves so foreign coupled with the way he's known her all his life. There's a pain and a fear there that he can't pinpoint, because it's not coming from her, exactly. It's not her that's doing it. It's the shift in their paradigm, the way he can't picture sliding into her hip like they used to all of a sudden, the way their ears won't flick and match because she's got whatever that whole situation is going on. It's a lot. It's too much all at once. But he has no choice- he can't run from her, can't imagine the thought, so he's frozen in a crouch as she extends her hand and he tries to shelve all this discomfort until he has some time to deal with it all.

So he swallows, forces his hand to stop shaking as he lets her help him up.

It's cooler than he remembers. Oh, he doesn't like that either.]

Oh, Barry's here?

[He tries to say it casually, as if his voice isn't shaking, as if the end of that sentence doesn't require a swallow to try and regain some semblance of moisture in his throat.]

Maybe you oughta, uh, give me the rundown a little more clearly than this, 'cuz right now a lot of this is just not comin' together and uh, not gonna lie, ya boy is about three seconds from a full ass moment right here.

[He doesn't want to ask, but it's her, so he should. Anything to get rid of some of the anxiety still swirling in his gut.]

Are y-- are we safe here? Right now?

[There's something about that question that makes Lup chuckle, her cool palm giving his hand a squeeze once he's back on his feet, but even when he's risen she doesn't let go.

If Lup has her way, she'll never let go of him again.]

I know it sounds fake, but this place is safe. The farm 'specially. It's kinda ours. No one's gonna hurt you. [Especially not Barry or her. Lup's been around the humans of his place before, knows how the smell of the blood pulsing in their necks makes her mouth water, but even if she can absolutely smell his fear, there's nothing about Taako that awakens her hunger. She may be a monster, but she isn't that much of a monster.]

Barry an' I woke up on the shore at the start of this cycle. No Starblaster or crew in sight. Just the two of us. So we assumed you guys were on the other side of the planet, just over the sea. Maybe the ship had a bumpy landing and the two of us rolled out or something. Either way, it's just been us the last few months, living among the locals, trying to adjust to their whole way of life.

[She holds out her free arm, showing off the bright, vivid scales that grow up from her wrist up to her elbow.]

Guess one of the things that happens here is after your first month, you start turning into a monster. The gods of this place basically straight up curse everyone. And without magic - [The look she shares with him, a roll of her eyes, is assuming he's already figured that one out.] - Means we can't reverse shit. Soo, we're just living our best monster lives this cycle.

[Lup talks, and Taako tries to listen. He knows it's not his strong suit, but right now he needs to hear that this is alright, that there's some reason behind this. This isn't the first time they've gone to some fucked up worlds, some periods where they could barely leave the ship or breathing the air was dangerous. And really, it's not that Taako isn't fairly chill about the prospect- he's changed his body into tons of different shit before, practically on the daily- it's the powerless feel of it all he's trying to wrap his head around.

That, and he doesn't really know how he feels about becoming a snake? All those scales look kinda painful.]

I mean-- okay, one, how did they cut off the entire plane of magic and keep this place running, that fucking sucks. Two, we just ended a cycle, you were right next to me. I d-- did I like pass out on the floor for six months or something? How long have you been in here?

[And if he still looks like him, he can't have been here, right? They've never transferred mid cycle before, never made it so only a few of them ended up before others. It's not right. Something's still wrong, but Taako knows he's going to need to adapt if he wants to survive like he always does.]

Also wait, roll back, did you find the Light yet?

[There's nothing about becoming a snake that isn't painful. But he'll learn about that all too soon, won't he?]

One, I wish I fuckin' knew. Trust me, if Bar an' I had even the faintest clue how to fix the whole magic situation, we'd have hopped on that months ago. Going cold turkey on magic's probs the worst part of the whole deal. And two, about six months. We - [Hm, trying to explain that he'd been here before, dropped in at the same time that Lup was, that sounds too difficult right now. Maybe she'll just hold off on that conversation until later.]

It's just been Barry an' me. No sign of the Starblaster, no sign of the Light. We've been looking an' asking around, but no luck so far. Tried enlisting some help, but it just isn't the same without the whole crew together.

[But what does that mean for Taako? Where has he been all of this time?]

I'unno, 'Ko. [Her palm presses to his, squeezing their hands together, fingers intwined as if they were never apart.] I would have found you if you were just out there passed out in a field for six months. I'm not sure where you came from. But fuck, I'm so glad you're here.

[Hey! Bad!

He tries to put it all together, slotting questions into answers, but there's just so damn much his brain is buzzing. They can't have just removed the goddamn plane of magic, if he was here he would have woken up changed, if he wasn't where was he-- who had him--

God, fuck this.

He moves, breaking contact with her hands to wrap his arms around her middle, pressing his head against her chest. She's so much bigger than him now and he doesn't like it, but he has to put that down. They're together. They'll get through whatever the fuck it is as long as they're together and he has to just remember that.]

'Mm glad you're here too.

[She can probably feel it now, the back and forth irregular patter of his heart, but fuck it. He's not moving.]

You better not eat me or some shit, alright, we aren't taking vore twins to that level.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Open rp post!

For ALEX

:3c <3

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject