sonnestark: (11)
ᴋᴀʀɪɴ ᴋᴏᴇɴɪɢ ([personal profile] sonnestark) wrote in [community profile] middaeg2020-08-05 09:28 pm

( open ) aguril catch-all log

Who: Karin Koenig & you!
When: Throughout Aguril.
Where: Various.
What: Quests, full moon shenanigans, transformation troubles, etc. Open unless otherwise noted!
Warnings: Some body horror and potential violence, will update as needed if anything else particularly spicy comes up.


i. the lady in the lake ( quest )
[Though the job itself had been marked as being high-risk, Karin found herself drawn to the idea of confronting a ghost— for one thing, it wouldn’t be the first time, and if all of her experience running errands for ghosts was ever going to come in handy, it would have to be now. Heeding the provided warnings, she dresses for the weather and heads for the lake armed. She can’t help smiling to herself when the lake comes into view, steadily making her way towards the shore.]

If Yuri were here, he’d be losing his mind right about now.

[A man who can take the form of countless demons, terrified of ghosts. Her friend’s predicament will never not be funny to her. Perhaps you agreed to come on this job together beforehand and she’s offering the comment to break the silence, or maybe you’ve come here on your own and just happen to catch her talking to herself as she approaches, but either way, she rubs her gloved hands together to ward off the cold as she reaches the shore. Who’s up for some tag-team ghost whispering?]


ii. full moon fever ( the wilde )
[The idea had been to ride out whatever changes took hold during the full moon by spending the night outside the city, far from anyone who might get hurt in the process. In theory, it works— the night of the full moon finds Karin transformed, though not entirely unrecognizable: while still largely herself, feathers have erupted throughout her hair and down her neck and back, the coat she'd worn to ward off the cold having been completely destroyed by the wings that have pushed their way to the surface. Flying seems to be out of the question, her wings too new and not yet strong or large enough to bear her weight, but harpy instincts drive her to the trees, using newly-emerged talons to pull herself up into the branches and to hold tight as she travels well above the ground, eager to give herself an opportunity to at least stretch her wings, if nothing else.

What she hadn't considered was that there were countless others outside the city for the exact same purpose, and being just this side of feral, there's no telling what will happen should she encounter anyone else struggling with their own changes. Maybe you're out in the Wilde to run or hunt, to try and work through your own shift, or perhaps it's work or something else entirely that's brought you out this way— whatever the cause, there's a rustle in the trees above, followed by a flash of red feathers, as well as a growling coming from somewhere deeper in the woods. After all, new monsters aren't the only things just outside the city walls.]


iii. time may change me ( late aguril, closed to housemates & close cr )
a.
[The changes that had come with the full moon had largely been temporary, at least for now, but some permanent transformation has already begun to set in. For one, Karin keeps finding feathers in her hair at the most unexpected moments, and while she’d plucked the first few strays that had come in as though they were mere inconveniences, she’d quickly curbed the habit, reminding herself that fighting changes was only going to make them worse in the long run. Besides, being the same color as her hair, at least for the time being, the feathers tended to blend in.
The ears, on the other hand…

She sighs heavily while standing in front of the mirror hanging in the upstairs hallway of the house she’s come to call home, frowning at herself as she turns her head and pulls part of her hair up and back to examine the fine point her ear has come to, much more defined than it had been even a week earlier.

It’s getting harder and harder to cover them up, and while she knows that there will be far more jarring changes in her appearance soon… a large part of her just wants to hold onto being human for a little while longer, if she can.]


Maybe it’s not that noticeable…?

[Mm. Wishful thinking.]

b.
[Near the very end of Aguril, the ongoing changes are no longer what she would consider to be merely inconvenient or uncomfortable. At first, she doesn’t know what the cause might be— there’s no visual, only sudden and severe pain that seems to hum its way through each of her limbs, out to the very tips of her fingers. Walking becomes stiff and awkward as the pain itself becomes dull and continuous, and the last few days of the month, she’ll resign herself to being bedridden, retreating to her bedroom and curling up as best she can to try and sleep through the worst of it, when her body will let her.

By now, it’s more obvious to her what’s happening beneath the surface; she can feel herself getting lighter, whatever magic it is that’s responsible for the change seeing fit to hollow out her bones from the inside, a process that is proving itself to be long, drawn-out, and excruciatingly painful. While she won’t be entirely adverse to visitors, and will be willing to let friends outside the household know via the watch network that she’s indisposed, she can’t promise to be very good company.]

al_bhed: <user name=colormespecial site=livejournal.com> (smirk)

iii. a.

[personal profile] al_bhed 2020-08-06 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
[Before Karin has time to consider her appearance further, there's a pointed clearing of a throat from somewhere to her left.

Rikku is standing there, rocking on her heels as she holds a bag behind her back and grins up at her housemate.]


Hey, do you got a minute? Or twenty? I have an idea for something we can do together.
yesdoubt: (connect the light that envelops us)

iii-b

[personal profile] yesdoubt 2020-08-06 02:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[Despite being Bonded to a harpy, the bone hollowing happened to Lio before he came to Momo for a Bond, so he's never actually seen someone going through it directly. Yuki's changes haven't been too brutal yet in contrast, so the only thing really stopping him from swinging by as soon as he hears Karin is stuck at home for a bit is work.

After he's done with his shift at the radio station, though, he drops in. It's been a busy month, but he's as energetic as ever he is, even if that energy settles a bit when he arrives to see her obviously in pain.]


This is the bone stuff, right? Lio's mentioned hollow bones, but he already had them when we met in person... [He comes over to the bedside, a little bag tucked under his arm - it's not supplies for the healing magic or anything, it's just a bottle of warm herbal tea and something that appears to be a slightly older-fashioned version of trail mix, lots of nuts and dried fruits (and sneaky chocolate chunks) mixed together. If there's a nightstand to put them on, he'll do so, otherwise he'll hang onto them for now.] I've healed plenty of bones outside the city walls, though, so helping with the pain should be fine.
wylderrant: (8)

ii

[personal profile] wylderrant 2020-08-06 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Iramaat isn't precisely out hunting, but she has wandered out of the city to try and handle her own full-moon issues. No bond means she's a bit wild and willing to roam free. Tonight, she simply feels like running. She doesn't know where or to what purpose - maybe just to feel the wind in her hair and let the beast inside of her be free for a little while. Better than drinking herself into a stupor, anyway, which is why she might tend to do otherwise.

The rustle above her grabs her attention as she pauses to draw breath and she glances up, hooves shifting as she tries to see who's up there.
]

...hello?

[ A part of her wants to bolt. ]
wylderrant: (8)

[personal profile] wylderrant 2020-08-06 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Karin-

[ Iramaat starts to speak up and then goes silence as she gestures her to be quiet. Her eyes dart from one side to the other, trying to see something - anything - through the trees. The one time she doesn't carry her sword and what does it get her? This. ]

I heard... something.

[ She squints. ]

I didn't think it was a shade. Have you seen it?
al_bhed: (Default)

[personal profile] al_bhed 2020-08-06 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Great!

[Rikku takes Karin but the wrist and pulls her back downstairs, letting go once both are sitting on the couch. Once settled, she dumps the bag onto the coffee table. Beads, ribbons, swatches of fabric, and what looks like maybe horse hair scatter across the surface.]

I noticed that you've been staring at your ears and trying to hide them under your hair lately.

Well, it just so happens that we Al Bhed as masters at hiding features we don't want other people noticing. [Goggles are a great disguise, okay.] So I figured I would help you out by doing up your hair so that no one sees your ears at all.

[She's still grinning, but it's a bit less conspiratorial and a bit warmer. Karin's been nothing but good and helpful to her, so this is the least Rikku can do to help her friend in kind.]

What do you say?
yesdoubt: (if i follow the footsteps you leave)

[personal profile] yesdoubt 2020-08-07 02:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[Momo stays close in case she needs his help to get herself up, but while one part of him wants to intervene, another knows that it'd probably just be another hit to the pride to have to be assisted upright. Still, as soon as she's finished using the nightstand as leverage, he pulls out the food and drink he brought along and places it there so it's in easy reach.

Almost as soon as she says it's nice of him to come by, he shakes his head a little with a small smile.]
I'm busier back home than I am here, hands-down. I couldn't not come after hearing you were in enough pain to be bedridden.

[And then his smile widens, to something more like his usual brightness. It's harder when someone else is hurting, but he's done it before.] Besides, times like this are a little bit better with company. Have you had much to eat or drink? Healing magic sometimes takes it out of the person being healed a bit, so I wanted to make sure.

[He taps the top of the tea bottle with one red nail. For something like this, it should come more out of him, but even if it just tires her out more he's more about coming prepared than not.]
supersoldier: (246)

[personal profile] supersoldier 2020-08-07 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[To Sephiroth, pain is not wholly unfamiliar, but it distant and rare in any great capacity. It simply represents error, the inability to have performed perfectly to avoid it, and as the years had passed from childhood to adulthood, he had given it less and less leeway to visit him.

When the full moon had first forced his wings out of his back, just great unfolding masses of hollow bird-bones and a glut of sprouting, dark feathers, it had been unlike anything he had experienced before. Even for the SOLDIER, whose reputation is like steel and just as cold, had recoiled from the pain, had let it tremble through his body from the back of his neck down the base of his spine — it had caused the world to careen from under his bootsteps, and perhaps it was some small blessing that the moons themselves had taken away true cognizance of the moment, and replaced it with a wild abandon trademark of those touched by their influence.

But now, nights like these represent only a chilling freedom; the pain is glancing at best, when his wings have already become a permanent feature, and instead his feathers grow more prominent, his wings stretch even larger, his fingertips clawed and his propensity to stay perched high in the treetops, watching potential prey pass below— far more tempting. It is less a transformation than it is an adjustment now. The discomfort hardly registers in his mind any longer.

He hears a scream. A screech. Another harpy.

Instinct cracks in his mind, whip-like, and he takes flight to chase it. Winds through the trees where the echo pulses, as though drawn to like. It’s only minutes when a heavy branch bows under his weight, Sephiroth landing quietly atop it and balanced with ease, glancing down at the figure he, amusedly, recognizes.]


It hurts. [He says, from the shaded cover of the branches that allow in only dappled moonlight.] But it will pass.

[The only thing seeming to gleam down at her are the glowing pinpricks of mako infused eyes, and a long, curving glint of steel. Masamune has come along for the ride.]
sparkstrikes: (20190302134539_2)

iii-b

[personal profile] sparkstrikes 2020-08-08 05:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's during the later of Karin's bedridden days when Lightning sneaks into her room, expecting her to be asleep.

She's the one who continues to leave the door slightly ajar, so as not to wake her when she's asleep, but to be able to check on Karin as she passes by, and leave new glasses of water when hers are emptied out. Maybe even throw a comment or two in as she does, which is less embarrassing to do when she can tell herself that the other can't hear her.

Today, however, is different.

When she comes by to drop a drink off, Lightning creaks the door open only to find that she's no longer asleep. She pauses for a moment, surprise flickering across her expression, before she lets herself in. Giving Karin a careful once-over, not paying mind to how long she stares, or the way her expression drops when she sees how tired she looks.]


You're up.

[She raises the glass to show her.]

Welcome back to the land of the living.
Edited 2020-08-08 17:37 (UTC)
confectionerie: (93)

iii-a!

[personal profile] confectionerie 2020-08-10 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ The process of changing for monsters isn't something that Ann has encountered much yet. She's met plenty of monsters who were already transformed, and she'd met some that were new and fresh like she was, not having experienced much of what being a monster in this world really meant. But what she'd heard about the process itself was...not exactly reassuring. She herself has begun to feel snappish and irritated due to her lack of bond, but it's been manageable so far, and while all of them can only really make do with the hand they've been dealt here, she's kept an eye out for Karin these last few days, after finding scattered feathers in the hallway. She's going through something new and unusual, and that's not the sort of thing someone should go through alone unless they want to.

So Ann approaches while Karin peers at herself in the mirror, her hands clasped behind her back and a smile on her lips. ]


It's not that noticeable. But you know, feathers aren't so bad...I think they're actually pretty fashionable.

[ At least she isn't sprouting spider legs or anything like that. Still, she wants Karin to know her feelings are valid, even if she has nothing she has to hide. ]

Doing okay?
wylderrant: (8)

[personal profile] wylderrant 2020-08-10 08:14 pm (UTC)(link)
And here's me without my sword.

[ Iramaat sighs, perhaps a bit too dramatically. There's a real chance of danger, after all! ]

We'll just have to make the best of it. Can you hear anything now...?

[ She cocks an ear, trying to listen for movement. There's... something out there. She just doesn't know what. ]
yesdoubt: (we share this secret at daybreak)

[personal profile] yesdoubt 2020-08-11 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
It sucks, yeah, kinda gets to you after a while. [The phrasing implies that Momo has been bedridden before and for a reasonably significant period, but he doesn't specify anything and moves on from the remark rather quickly. It's not exactly a sore topic anymore, given how long ago it was, but given it essentially derailed his life at that time he doesn't think he'll ever be completely comfortable just bringing it up. Especially since it was thrown carelessly to the media in his world recently by someone else.]

Good to hear you've been eating well, though! I'm no cook myself, but I figured I'd just bring something simple that you could reach for if you need it...good thing I can brew tea without burning it these days. [He laughs at himself for that, because he used to hate tea before Yuki started making it for him - as it turned out, Momo and his sister had both been kind of garbage at making green tea in particular and he'd only had it burnt prior to meeting Yuki.] And trail mix, because I was gonna bring chocolate but I thought I should be good and just bring sneaky chocolate in something else.

[Momo can't truthfully be called a healthy eater, but that's only because he's so active he can burn through just about anything he eats and thus routinely tends to break his idol-related diet limits back home. In this case, he just figured plain chocolate might be a bit much and that making it into a trail mix would at least throw some nutrition into it.]
sparkstrikes: (186)

[personal profile] sparkstrikes 2020-08-11 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Unless we're both dreaming.

[Once Karin is done sitting up, Lightning takes that as an okay to cross the room and replace her old, empty glass with the new one. Her eyes roam over her friend, an empathetic sigh rising in her chest that she lets out when she leans against the wall.

She'd sit, but not even she's sure if she should.]


Don't mention it. That full moon did a number on you. [...] On a lot of people.
thevanguard: Color Fight Serious Aura (029)

ii

[personal profile] thevanguard 2020-08-13 01:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She's not the only one who'd wandered out to the Wilde for that reason. There's another figure not far from her own tree, a pair of fully-formed antlers now brushing the lowest branches. Reddish fur covers his arms and legs and down along the line of his spine. Furred ears swivel atop his head as that growl sounds not far away and his head comes up sharply.

There's a flash of white as a tail flicks in agitation, his eyes narrowing on the distant underbrush. Unlike his normal golden-eyed hue, his gaze seems to be almost completely black tonight, as if his irises have completely swallowed everything - only a thing circle of yellowish gold remains on the outer edges, reflecting and catching the light.

He's not feral - not completely, but there's an air of wildness about him that's far more intense than it's been at other times. One foot comes down in a quiet stamp - he doesn't have hooves but the instinct seems to be triggered there all the same as he turns to face whatever threat might be coming from ahead.

And still completely oblivious that something else is lingering overhead. ]
al_bhed: (profile)

[personal profile] al_bhed 2020-08-13 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[Rikku starts sorting through the pile of baubles on the table, although she pauses to look up at Karin in order to respond. It hadn't really occurred to her how sensitive a topic it might be to call attention to. It's a good thing Karin's merely a bit sheepish and not outright angry.

In any case, Rikku appreciates that her older-sister-friend is willing to open up a bit.]


I don't think it's silly or weird. I know I'd be freaking out a lot more if I were you. You've been human your whole life, you know? Of course you don't want to change.

And that's why we're here. [She gestures to the half-sorted items.] Let me know if there's anything you really like or don't want. I grabbed some feathers I thought were pretty, but maybe that's too much of a reminder...?
oathkeeper: <user name=vhazzrhossze site=tumblr.com> (☀ 23)

i

[personal profile] oathkeeper 2020-08-13 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tag team it up with one (1) rabbit boy who may or may not regret this job as soon as his sensitive ears get a single whiff of a screaming ghost. Nonetheless, Sora does not back down from high-risk quest and a chance to help out and make a little bit of money alongside that. So here Sora is standing next to Karin with a scarf wrapped one too many times around his neck and one hand to his brow as peers over the cold lake water.]

Yuri? Was he scared of ghosts?

[Oddly enough Sora isn't that scared of ghosts at all. His tolerance for spooky things is actually quite high. More than likely because he's danced with skeletons before. It's not really a big deal to him.]

I wonder why this place is haunted in the first place?
supersoldier: (198)

[personal profile] supersoldier 2020-08-16 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[The bones rise first, prying out from beneath skin and looking as though they wish to break through the surface — in the end, that’s exactly what they do, and Sephiroth watches with a wayward fascination as her wings force themselves into existence, tacky with blood, the striations of her feathers gleaming in the moonlight all the same. He observes keenly as pain clutches every inch of her frame, only to be released in a slow uncoiling of it. Blessed relief in the wake of unasked for change.

Had it been the same for him? He cannot recall with any real mode of clarity, but he thinks it might have been, with no one present to view it. He finds it fascinating, a little bit thrilling in a scintillating way, to be privy to her first changes — as though he has stumbled upon vulnerability itself, a private moment of transformation, of both unflattery and a new power sprouting from an old shell.

I think it's done, she says, and he smiles.

The next moment is a flurry of black feathers, rustling branches, and the arc of silver steel as he descends from his perch and lands on the winter-cold earth. He approaches, uncaring for her state still hunched over with talons in the ground, with purposeful yet almost-indolent strides.]


The wings, at least, yes. [If any other changes grace her, she’ll know soon enough. Sephiroth nears, stopping just short of her form, and angles down enough to allow threads of silver hair to slip past his shoulders and tickle her back, to reach out and run the fingers of his free hand through those new, raw feathers primed with blood. The deepest paint of crimson to add to the already red hue of her wings.]

What do you think of them?

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