middaeg | catch-all (partly open; partly closed)

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catch-all (partly open; partly closed)

Who: Konoe and ~~friends~~ acquaintances (and enemies, and whatever)
When: May
Where: ~around~
What: All the things! So far: herb quest with Dylas; Mrs. Mitten quest with... you?
Warnings: The general stupidity of a catboy chasing a cat? 🙀 Will edit as things come up.
Feel free to use the format/tense you're most comfortable with! I will happily adapt.
If you want to wildcard me for whatever, go right ahead. You're likely to find Konoe around the city, following the magic classes the coven's giving, maybe attempting some very minor magic in a secluded spot, sitting on a rooftop looking out over the city and trying not to feel lonely, or... very much lost because he has no sense of direction.

[closed] HERBOLOGY HELP

It's not for the reward that Konoe does this; in fact, he's not sure what the reward even is. But he's been wanting to take a look at the forest, even if it's supposed to be dangerous, and this gives him the perfect excuse to finally do it. And, since he's not alone... he doesn't have to worry about getting lost either. (Shut up.)

It's strange how much the forest feels comfortable and familiar, yet something about it is still very much off. The smell of the trees and plants is not so different than that of the world he grew up in, but there's definitely something odd on top of that, very faint and sickly sweet, yet anything but sweet at the same time. That's new. The Void never smelled like anything... but then, that only made it more dangerous.

This still feels more like home than a city ever could. Konoe appreciates the comforts of a city, but it's hard to beat scents for nostalgia.

"Follow the river in the forest, it said..." And that's what they're doing. "Do you think it's much further?" He doesn't mind either way. He's just trying to make conversation, in his own way - and perhaps trying to calm down somewhat, with that eerie sickly sweet scent lightly prickling at his nose.

[open] MRS. MITTENS

In a city full of magic and monsters, there's a wide variety of things one should expect to see, and very little that should surprise you. Even so, the sight in front of you may raise a few eyebrows.

"Hey - wait!" There's a young man with a tail and cat ears, his hood long since fallen off his head and flapping behind him like the rest of his mantle. He's running at a pretty impressive speed, jumping obstacles... and perhaps knocking over a thing or two (hopefully not a person or two) in the process, oops.

That's not really the noteworthy thing here, though. The strangest thing to note is that he's chasing... a cat. The catboy is chasing a cat.

"I'll give you milk, so come here already!" He remembers that these Cats are supposed to like milk. He has still not accepted that they apparently - supposedly - can't talk, though... and even if he did, he expects them to at least understand what he's saying.

Clearly this particular Cat is just very rude.

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That's exactly what someone with a weak tail would say, smh.

He can handle the shades just fine on his own. Dylas slices a few with the dangerous tips of his weapon, and another few he manages to turn into mist through the sheer force of his punch alone. The rest pick at him, pulling at his clothes or his tail or his ears.

He's making headway, Dylas just doesn't have the luxury of picking the easier job. Or so he'd nag. Truthfully, he's having fun, and it shows in how lively he's become as he fights off the pesky things. Sure, he's bleeding a little from the nips and pecks and scratches, but what can he say? He's fighting a miniature flock of shady birds without his powers.

When Konoe yells that out, Dylas doesn't even bother following after him.

"Just hold your h—" Oh shit, not that word. "—hares! I need to get some, too!"

His tail isn't weak! If it looks weak to you, it's just your eyesight that's weak!!

Seriously, that is why Dylas wants to risk death-by-cwyld?!

"You can have mine! Just go!"

Even if Dylas is enjoying the fight - and Konoe doesn't blame him for that, even if he doesn't quite share the sentiment - they're up against infected creatures, with no way of knowing what those creatures can do, how the infection might spread, etc. Finishing the job is important to Konoe, because he started it so he will damn well finish it, but getting some stupid herbs for his own use is the last thing on his mind.

Ah. Fuck. Forget this. He manages to pick up a nearby rock and throw it at one of the larger ones (a direct hit!) but he's too tall and he stands out too much.

"I get at least half!," is what he decides to yell before he swings his arm in a wide arc and starts fleeing after Konoe. As much as he'd like to stick around and fight, he knows so little about what's out here and what effects a fight like this could have. His adrenaline is still pumping, but once he starts running at least most of them flap back into their nest despite the damage Dylas has caused to their group.

"What the hell is their problem? There are probably tons of these if they're that easy to find."

"Fine!"

Dylas can take half; Konoe could care less. He doesn't need to keep any himself, anyway: he's just doing this because it's a job - and the job didn't say how many to collect, so he considers it done regardless. Fighting is just too dangerous when there's so much they don't know about Shades and the Cwyld and all of that nonsense. Even if the Coven explained this world the best it knew how, that still left a lot of information missing...

"Now we know why someone put a quest out instead of collecting some himself."

He should have figured that, honestly, but he's used to dangerous forests, and he figured maybe not everyone from the city is the same...
... Maybe he underestimated the quest. But he's still glad to have headed out into the forest for a while, and they came out mostly okay, so it's fine.

He keeps running for a while: even if the Shades seem to have backed off soon enough, he's not taking any chances. Only when they're a good part of the way back does he slow down, and finally take a closer look at Dylas.

"Are you okay?" He's bleeding a little, and while it doesn't seem too serious, Konoe can't help but ask.

"Seriously. We better be getting paid decently for this."

He checks over himself once they slow to a stop. A tear here, pulled fur there. For the most part, Dylas doesn't look too worse for wear. There's sweat beading on his brow, he's a little out of breath, and he needs to brush his tail. There's a few cuts, too, but they're so small that he doesn't view them as a problem.

"I'm fine, yeah. They got it worse than they gave me."

Dylas is already walking to the river so he can disinfect his wounds. He squats and splashes water on to his sleeve, wets his ear where there's a scratch there.

"Did you and the herbs make it out alright?"

At least he puts Konoe's name first.

"Yeah..." Konoe is fine. No scratches, as far as he's noticed; he had that Shade flying into him, and he's scratched at some others, but he's all in one piece.

As are the herbs, but thanks for your concern or something!! He looks into his bag to be sure, but nothing much seems to have happened to the Flaming Lips.

"That was dangerous." Which he really should have expected, but he didn't, and he's still sort of processing it all. At least everything seems to have turned out okay...

Of course Konoe doesn't have any scratches, he took the easiest job. But that's not something Dylas is actually sorry about. He's tough—Konoe is scrappier than he thought, but he'd still rather be the one taking blows here.

"I've been through worse, but...fighting without my abilities is harder than I thought. I'm usually stronger than this." His ears flick up and down, irritated by powerlessness he's never felt before. "Normally, if I were surrounded like that, I'd zap 'em all down with lightning, you know?"

"You're powerful enough. Wait - with lightning?!"

Lightning... With lightning?! Sure, Konoe knows that people can do all sorts of weird things, especially here, but... lightning powers sound pretty impressive - and like a hell of a thing to lose!

Oh. He likes being called strong, powerful. It's flattering. He does try to be tough, and he does want to go stronger, so having it acknowledged is nice.

"Yeah. Back home, I was stronger than this. You have to be. I was fighting monsters whenever I left town to go fishing. That includes magic, but...only the lightning and thunder kind."

"I see." What is 'only' even doing in that sentence?! Lightning and thunder magic sounds totally badass - and a little scary, but mostly badass. Konoe isn't sure how much he can say about it when even a compliment might actually make Dylas feel worse, though.

"Even without magic, you can fight monsters, but..." That's actually not what he wanted to say at all, but he's still organizing his thoughts on the matter. Magic has always existed in Konoe's experience, but finding out Dylas used to have it is still a surprise. It also makes him feel kind of bad that Dylas lost it, when Konoe gained it. "... I didn't realize. That you had magic."

"Yeah. Magic helps when I'm fighting, but I'm better at punching than using my head." For a moment, he looks a little like he wants to say more. His tail brushes against his leg, curling inward between them, and his ears can't decide whether to stay up or down. But this is Dylas. Talking is awkward to begin with, talking about something he doesn't understand would make things even worse. "It's not a big deal. Everyone else is in the same boat, right?"

It annoys him, when Dylas puts himself down like that. Sure, Konoe will gladly mock Dylas and/or call him out in any way he can, but that doesn't mean he enjoys Dylas actually feeling any kind of bad about himself.

It's uncomfortable. Konoe is used to taking people who are full of themselves down a peg, but talking people's confidence up? That's such a foreign experience. The cat life really is the exact opposite.

"It's true that everyone seems to have lost something when coming here, but some people lost good things when others lost bad ones." Like him and his curse; him and his empathy. It's true that he can't sing anymore, either, but that's a minor sacrifice when there are no other cats around to sing for. "I really don't understand it."

Edited 2019-06-04 11:54 (UTC)

"I dunno. Some of the people I've met seem pretty normal. The only things they've lost would be whatever they had going on at home, right? That's still pretty big."

He feels a little awkward now. He looks down at the cut on his arm, then looks back at Konoe. Truthfully, he feels strange about having no magic. It feels like...it feels like something that used to be there, tying his spirit to something, is no longer there. But how can he even put that in words.

"Did you lose something, Konoe?"

That is still pretty big... but somehow, it feels different. Their own worlds may still be out there somewhere, waiting for their return, but to lose some part of yourself that you couldn't get away from even if you wanted to -... That's something else. Konoe has mostly lost things he's glad to be rid of, and it still feels like being violated, having that kind of thing done to you against your will.

"Just the curse, and some other annoying stuff." Definitely the most detailed and accurate description of his empathy, that. "... And my Singing."

He. Should really explain that. But he doesn't think to, yet.

"Oh, yeah. Your curse. I'm glad that's gone."

Does he know the details of Konoe's curse? Nope. Does he need to? Nope. He's willing to accept that curses are bad. Really, if he's out there losing magic and other people are losing curses, he can definitely suck it up and live without a little lightning.

"...You can't sing anymore? Is that normal? I didn't lose anything like that coming in."

He's thinking of things like fishing, cooking. Singing with a lowercase s. He stares at Konoe unflinchingly, waiting for an answer with eyes that aren't as irritated with him and the world as they usually are.

To be fair: even Konoe doesn't really know the details of his curse. What little he knew of it were legends and rumors, and then the process of getting it (and of - possibly - getting rid of it) that he lived through. It still leaves pretty much everything of importance open to interpretation... and guesswork.

"Not singing." He never had that to start with, thanks for reminding him?! "I was a Singing Cat!"

He's so helpful, and you will never convince him otherwise. He does, at least, try to explain himself a little better after that. It's just such a famous concept in his world, it's weird to explain!

"There's Fighting Cats and Singing Cats. A Singing Cat can support a fighter with his song."

"A singing cat."

There are times, like right now, where Dylas sounds incredulous. He doesn't really believe it, but it's not like Konoe has any reason to lie to him. Still, the tone isn't reflecting how he feels. A few words spill out after, words that Dylas doesn't seem to realize he's said. They're a little personal, a little distant in the way that suggest he almost isn't expecting to be heard.

"I'd like to hear you sing."

And then he turns his gaze back, staring at Konoe, still unaware he accidentally vocalized one of his thoughts.

"I'm no good with music. Margaret is, though."

What? Dylas would like to hear him sing? It's so unexpected that Konoe starts doubting he heard what he heard almost immediately, the more so because Dylas doesn't follow up on it, and just changes the topic.

Okay, it's not an actual change of topic - but it is to Konoe, who's forced through an abrupt emotional turning of a corner. It kind of derails him, and he forgets to ask about this Margaret person the way he probably should.

"It's not like I would have minded... singing for you. But I can't, anymore."

And for the first time, quite unreasonably - he doubts his singing would even work on not!cats! - he regrets losing that power, more than he ever thought he would.

He could still sing normally, of course, but that doesn't even occur to him. He's not particularly good at that, and he can see no reason whatsoever why Dylas would want to hear his regular singing.

Oh. Crap. Had he said that out loud? For a moment, Dylas looks like a deer coming face to face with a hunter it hadn't seen a moment earlier. He clears his throat, because, you know, clearing your throat is a useful conversation tool. It's not just a stalling tactic. Cough.

"That's..." He doesn't want to say 'too bad,' because he doesn't want to sound like he actually wants this? So, clearly, he needs to say something as boneheaded as possible. "...fine. There's no use crying over spilled...singing or something like that."

He's not great at metaphors.

Uhuh, that's right, get a load of this badass hunter right here. He'll eat all your fruit and not give a fuck.

It's so rare for Dylas to come out and say something like this that Konoe actually wants to give him what he wants, but... he can't, can he? He's pretty sure he can't. And as tempting as it is to try regardless, he doesn't want to get Dylas' hopes up, only to fail.

Besides, it's incredibly embarrassing, just singing for no reason and having people pay a lot of attention to it.

So he can't do anything. It makes him feel pathetic.

"... Let's deliver those herbs."

When in doubt: focus on pointless practical things to get through the day. It doesn't make him feel any better, but it does at least keep him from stalling, stuck in his own emotions.

Konoe can have all the fruit, but if he touches Dylas' carrot, he will throw this cat into the lake to see if he can swim.

"Aren't we going to stop and rest?"

Dylas isn't picking up on anything that Konoe's feeling. He's not an empath, no, he's about as emotionally intuitive as a brick sometimes.

"If you want to go straight back, that's fine with me. I don't care either way, but you had to rush out of there pretty fast."

Of course, Dylas doesn't need to rest, he's got the stamina of a hor...hornbill. Not something else hor-related.

He will nom any carrot or stick as much as he wants!! Also: you're hor-rible.

"We can rest at home. I don't want more shades to come after us."

There's no reason to presume that they will, of course, but something about the encounter has still left him unsettled, a lingering discomfort that just won't go away. It must be true what they say about the Cwyld...

Either way, he doesn't feel like having a nice little picnic in the forest anymore.

"You're worrying too much. But that's fine with me. I'm a little wound up after all that, so walking it off sounds like a good idea."

Contrary to Konoe, Dylas feels completely fine. Funny how that works—he hasn't had any reason to study how the world works yet, no, he's just focusing on getting by. Maybe he should've paid more attention.

Well, regardless, he reaches out and pats Konoe's shoulder. See? Everything is fine, except for maybe Dylas putting a little too much force into it.

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catch-all (partly open; partly closed)

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we can start winding this down if that's your intent btw!

either wind down or skip ahead, i think!

I'll let you choose...!