middaeg | CHIVE GOT TO BE GOING (open)

Entry tags:

CHIVE GOT TO BE GOING (open)

Who: Papyrus and you
When: Throughout Juril (and possibly Auguril)
Where: Aefenglom, the Underground, maybe beyond
What: Catch-all featuring Fungi, Fashion and Doubles
Warnings: Narrative mention of biting Cwyld-infected animals

AEFENGLOM
💀 PROVISIONAL PILFERING
Ever since the Eclipse, market-goers are blessed with more opportunities to witness what was, once, a full moons exclusive sight: a notorious red furred-and-skeletal canine rushing through city streets on four legs, a string of miscellaneous meats flapping behind from his mouth.

Other times, they might witness a slightly more sheepish bipedal skeleton (still distinctly canine a turnskin) returning to the scene of the crime, cunes in hand. Most of the shopkeepers put up with it - especially since he tips for the trouble.

💀 MTT-FASHION MAKEOVER
After months of the Mirrorbound contributing to the fashion variety of Aefenglom, one shop A New Look is actively soliciting their consultation and modeling. Papyrus couldn't be happier. Maybe his own ventures into fashion have been a little too focused on making his own attire for him to go establishing a business... but it's clear his outfits have had heads turning!

And, seeing how some of his outfits have really been in imitation of outfits from home, it's for the best that Mettaton is here. The real MTT-Fashion deal, here to push the envelope in ways the people of this city have never seen before. As big a fan as Papyrus is of his housemate, he's one of the first to line up for modeling. T-Shirts with the MTT logo front and center? Basketball shoulder pads? All these and more.

💀 DUPLICITOUS DOUBLE
Shortly following Worst Dragon's request for participants in a troubleshooting a potion, Papyrus takes to the street to ask people for help in a search. He approaches random bystanders to ask, "Have you seen a skeleton? He looks exactly like me."

Despite this, he has a convenient HAVE YOU SEEN THIS SKELETON? poster already drawn and in hand. He holds it up for inspection, even if the bystanders say no. Just in case they recognize a face easier when it's drawn.

Partway through his search, a flash of white catches Papyrus' gaze, but it's no red-furred skeleton he sees. Instead, it's a small white canine. Maybe a Pomeranian, maybe something harder to pin down. Whatever it is, he recoils at the sight.

"N-No. It can't be," he stage whispers. After all, he was there when the newest arrivals were rounded up and given the rundown, and he gave no few of the welcomes himself. Surely, if that menace were here, he would already know. Surely it's a coincidence.

But then the dog turns to look at him - and winks. Papyrus screeches, abandons whoever he's talking with, and gives chase.

THE UNDERGROUND
💀 SPELUNKING & SPORES
As the talks turned successful and the Mirrorbound were officially given welcome, Papyrus continued spending much of his time in the underground. It's a strange mix of unfamiliar and nostalgic, roaming an underground city of monsters and humans. Sometimes it's as if the people of Aefenglom or Dorchacht wound up under Mt. Ebott, sometimes he half expects to turn a corner and walk into Waterfall, and other times the differences are too great to ignore.

When the red algae begins spreading, it turns out that being a skeleton monster gives some real advantages. With no lungs for spores to infect, no blood for bats to bite and drain, and being light and quick on his feet, Papyrus is about as safe a spelunker as they can get.

So he pours his time into traversing the tunnels, helping find where the danger spots are forming, and reporting it back to the city's scouts. It means returning covered in a dangerous dusting and getting thoroughly washed off before he can come enter. Sometimes, that means being outside when a threatening creature comes by to try sneaking its way in. Other times, it means smelling of wet dog while he complains.

"I don't see why they don't just burn it," he says, as if he hasn't been within a couple of burning houses in his time. "Fire magic to burn it up, water magic to put out the fires... the perfect cleaning tag team!"

💀 INSTINCT INCIDENTS
When it comes down to it, Papyrus isn't one to kill - when he can help it. Distracting and immobilizing threats is preferable, shooing them away if possible, letting someone with more lethal intent go for the kill when it's not.

But turnskin instincts make it a lot more appealing to go for the throat when in danger, and then there's death and contamination in his mouth, and it's just awful. Try as he might to balance the line between accepting his changes and sticking to his ideals, instincts are instincts, and he has to get cured more than once. There's the dog-sized ant that ambushes him while returning, whose bite nearly makes him black out. A pair of wasps, which prove to fly faster than he can run. The time a group's scheme to get the earthworms to eat the red algae goes awry, as they all prove more appetizing than the Red Death.

💀 FETCHING FUNGI
Thankfully, there's other ways to fight the dangers than outright fighting. Things like: fetching the curative moss from the ruins, to help with people who've gotten infected! Gathering other flora and fauna, to see if any prove helpful against the Red Death! Taking restorative trips back to Aefenglom, and gathering supplies from shops and the Wilde there!

...Okay, maybe the last one is a short-lived attempt to quit the whole venture. It's not more than a day before he heads back into the thick of things.

WILDCARD AND OOC NOTES
((Have a wildcard option in mind? Papyrus will mostly be back and forth between Aefenglom and the Underground, seeing to his life minutiae, working a couple part-time jobs, and doing a lot of spelunking to help with the fungal threat. Visits to the Wilde or Dorchacht are possible, but I don't have prompts planned for them, so feel free to pm me on plurk, dw, or discord to brainstorm.

As always, go with action or pose as you prefer, I'll match your style!

I know this is going up right at the end of the month, so I may use this same catch-all for Aguril prompts - editing them in once we know what's happening next month. With the latest update to the rules on AC, one thread started in a previous month can count for a current month's AC, though only the August tags would count.

eta: I am dropping from Aefenglom, but backtags available as mini-PSLs back at my IC inbox.))

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Meanwhile, people are startled when a fairly large fox suddenly bursts out from a public fountain. The size alone would be out of the ordinary, but the fact the upper half of it was covered in dark green crocodile scaly scutes and tail, made it even more incredibly bizarre.

'This one's a no go too,' Saori mentally mused to herself. The chimera shakes herself dry, unaware that she is on the path of a fur-and-skeletal canine on the run.

Most of the time, the shopkeepers Papyrus pilfers from don't give chase. They do a quick cost/benefit analysis, conclude that abandoning their shop would make it far easier for other thieves to steal everything else, and make a note of the thief's description. There's so few non-necromantic skeleton turnskins in the world, after all.

Unfortunately for him and fortunately for the shopkeeper, this particular stall had an apprentice learning the ropes. A young, energetic, arachne apprentice eager to demonstrate her hard ethic. It's been ten minutes since Papyrus grabbed the sausages, and she's still right on his tail. He's running in a panic, only catching glances of the obstacles to come - and a chimera emerging suddenly from the fountain is too sudden to avoid.

The skeleton yelps as they set off a xylophone collision of bone and crocodile scales, and the sausages go flying.

Saori also yelps as she's bowled over and sent flying with Papyrus. Red fur and bones? This is new. She could barely see what set this turnskin off running, but she could smell the spices from the sausages.

The two roll for a good distance until they finally hit the side of a building. Saori managed to land on top but she was seeing some stars at the moment, trapping the other beneath her.

"W-What in the name of the gods just happened?"

"Ah- you took up that request, then?" Thancred shakes his head, with a wry smile. "I'm afraid not- not before seeing you, at any rate. But I can certainly keep an eye out for you. Where were you planning to search next?" They might be able to cover a little more ground.

Except for- is that a dog? Thancred takes a step back, bemused, feathers fluffing a little, and then follows. It's- unlikely that it's a transformed double, surely?

A casual glance would say no, surely not. It looks like an ordinary dog with no particular resemblance to Papyrus - the proportions of its face are all different than his muzzle, it's smaller and fluffier than his canine form, white instead of reddish brown, and most of all, it's not skeletal. Papyrus sees only that first impression and rushes off after the dog, agitated to the point of missing what his nose - or Thancred - is saying.

But a harpy's eyes are more acute than an agitated turnskin's - or the average human witch's. Thancred might pick up on little signs of illusion magic, with the blurs for the mind to fill in, and the ways it's only as detailed as the caster could see.

At least, he might during the brief time that the dog's visible. But when Papyrus gives chase, the dog bounds away and ducks into a pile of crates some shop hasn't yet taken inside.

"Get out here! I saw that look," Papyrus yells at the crates, lifting one with the strength his bones don't hint at. "I know you know me. How long have you been here???"

Well, that confirms to him that something's going on- whatever the shape of it is. If there's an illusion- presumably the dog has borrowed a favour, or is something else to start with. With that brief glance, he can't be entirely certain.

He goes a little further around the crates, trying to watch for a dog- or anyone else- making an escape. If they've ducked behind something, perhaps they're quick enough to make a change.

It's pretty impressive- and a little intimidating- to see Papyrus lifting the crate, though he goes a little closer in in his investigation. "Who is that dog?"

Hauling the crate around to the side, Papyrus exclaims, "the absolute worst dog!"

Much as he would like to fling the crates with wild abandon in his search - and he just might be able to do so - these are some shop's belongings. Instead he puts it down with more care than he cares to use, then peers into the gap now revealed. Nothing. He grinds his teeth, and looks briefly back at Thancred.

"You could almost say... my arch-nemesis? It dogged my life with thievery and break-ins." As well as appearing with a smug look and running off to ruin something, like it's doing now.

"Out of all the dogs there are?" It sounds more as though there's a grudge, though Thancred wonders- what is the dog thinking, exactly?

He reaches out to take one of the crates- he can't haul them about quite as well, but he can manage.

"Ah, so you have a rivalry, then? Why you?" He catches the movement out of the corner of his eye, and turns. "Hold onto that thought- this way!"

[The logo. The basketball shoulder pads. Alphys recognizes the look instantly.]

O-oh, hey Papyrus, are you helping Mettaton with something...?

[I mean, it's not like she can judge because going by the way she is just sayshaying around on her hooves it's pretty clear who taught her how to walk on them.]

Am I indeed! You see, Alphys... Mettaton's putting out a new fashion line!

[New locally, that is. They both recognize the sporty look Papyrus is sporting, emphasis that it's inspired by actual sports equipment. There's a brief pause as Papyrus processes that, then poses again.]

What's old is new again! And fabulous. And... I think there's some other buzzwords I'm supposed to say...

T-that explains a lot! ...But does he really think this kind of thing is going to catch on here? It's not really, y'know, the style.

Yeah, that's the hook!

[He drops the posing to lean in conspiratorially, but the stage whisper still carries enough for any attentive listener.]

They asked for him... because they're trying new things! Maybe it's not for everyone, but Mirrorbound fashion... It's cutting edge. New styles for a new age. Or, something like that.

Oh wow, he gave you an entire spiel, didn't he?

And More, because the eccentric showbiz tycoon himself has ideas that go beyond himself. So plentiful are they that he can't model it all— or, wait, yes he can. But why stop there when he can make other people wear it as well?

For Papyrus to mention the MTT-Brand at all in addition to Mettaton's insistence won him quite the audience with the designers, who recognize his name from another Mirrorbound's testimony about Mirrorbound fashion. It's terrible, and enabling: Mettaton can just say whatever he wants about his Ideas, and the designers listen, considering there's a fan of his brand among the Mirrorbound. Mettaton doesn't see this as terrible, because of course he doesn't.

As soon as he sees Papyrus anywhere NEAR the designer's shop, he accosts him. Papyrus will be his model yet.

"Papyrus, darling! I hear you're promoting my brand!" he starts, his ears tall and smile wide. With the two of them insisting to the consultants that MTT-Brand Fashion is a hit back home, it's only natural that they take double the interest, and have been humoring Mettaton double-time. "And who better to wear some of my LATEST ideas?? I have a mind to turn Aefenglom into AefenGLAM! What do you say? Will you be my model?"

More to the point, how could he hope to sell his products as the only model, when his beautiful form is downright impossible to emulate for so many people... and there's other fashion lines competing? Better to diversify the models a little, even if they can't really expect to be fashionable skeletons, either.

Could they have talked about this back at the house? Sure, theoretically. But then there wouldn't be an audience for it, no chance for Mettaton to pull out that line - (Aefenglam, Papyrus is beaming already) - and let see the spectators see his honest enthusiasm in response.

"Aefenglam...? Oh my god, I love it!" Papyrus clasps his hands to his face, tail wagging away. "Of course I will!!! I would have even if you didn't ask!"

Okay, maybe a little forewarning, and a chance to practice his honest response, would have been helpful. But no sense dwelling on the past, not when there's a future to be building! One that takes the best of the old and the best of the new into something else entirely.

A future of MTT-Brand marvels awaits Aefenglom. It only took him a year to get around to it proper. A year of integrating with the setting, he would say.

The robotic Puca claps his hands together, practically bouncing in place with their mutual joy just feeding off of each other. It's a lot of enthusiasm for one city. Enthusiasm enough for cataclysmic bad fashion choices to be bred.

"Fabulous! I knew you'd be eager to get a SNEAK PEAK of my new summer fashion and eyewear campaign," Mettaton teases, flirtatiously stroking Papyrus' shoulder as he frames Papyrus's hip with his leg, almost as if he's boxing him in. "A hybrid... between the HOTTEST of MTT-Brand attire, and Aefenglom's trendiest looks. I'm full of good ideas... but I think you'll be perfect for some of the edgiest of my looks."

Accosted and roped in, a number of designers await the two monsters sitting wide-eyed, mostly. They're interested, at least, and as a team of Witches, they can make quick work of prototypes by way of illusion, conjuration, and transmutation. Before them are sketches in abundance: Mettaton really is full of ideas, and they're annotated in his curly handwriting and everything. Should Papyrus spare a cursory glance at Mettaton's work, a few such examples include full-length ballgowns with architectural features of Mettaton's resort, the obvious T-shirt-and-underwear-combination with Mettaton's face or logo, and... there's a page with a lot of heels.

The nitty-gritty of the work is not his realm of expertise. That's for designers to suss out, not beautiful robots!

"I'm sure you're eager... And full of expectations."

[Near is in the market, minding his own business and doing his best to go about things as though they're absolutely normal. So of course he's completely thrown off when Papyrus runs by.

It's not the wolf himself, as he sees plenty of strange things every day around here, it's the meat dangling from his mouth as he goes. The naga's pupils become thin slits and he darts forward quickly to make a grab for a couple sausages as they fly past his field of vision.]

She'd been prepared to tell him 'no', but then the dog showed up. A dog she, also, had not ever seen before. Surely nothing so white as that dog could be a stray and look so undirtied by the city streets. But Papyrus' reaction was even more confusing, and Eileen was getting the distinct impression that there was something else going on here.

And then... off he went. After an unholy screech. And while part of her wanted to just ignore the situation and move on with her life, she couldn't shake the feeling that, while not immediately dangerous, leaving well enough alone would only lead to trouble.

And thus she took after them both, a flash of black to accompany the two flashes of (mostly) white.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

CHIVE GOT TO BE GOING (open)

Provisional Pilfering

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Duplicitous Double

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MTT-brand wtf

beautiful, I love it

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MTT-Fashion MAGNIFICENCE!

i wouldn't change a thing, but gods, they are ridiculous

they are, and it's killin me, i just spent a few minutes in agony coming up with... ideas.

provisional pilfering

duplicitour double