[open] if you could only see

[exsoldier]

Who: Zack & YOU, plus some closed prompts!
When: Throughout Aguril
Where: Throughout Aefenglom and the Wilde
What: August catch-all: quests, Zack going feral, red string spell stuff
Warnings: Violence due to going feral

[ prompts are in the comments below! if you want a specific starter for anything, you can pm me or hit me up over at demonology! ]

Comments

[supersoldier]

[The moons have clutched their influences around Sephiroth’s mind, as well, on this night. Like clockwork, he falls into a deeper transformation — wings larger, plumage fuller, ears at a longer point and his fingertips curved with dark claws — and a Harpy’s instinct overcomes him, has him departing the city and flinging himself into the Wilde’s treetop canopies, lost in shadow and the interlocking weft of thick branches.

His mind is affected, too, like any Monster’s. Even his steel will bends under the purview of the swollen moons hanging in the night sky. And yet Sephiroth has an advantage where some do not: he has his Bonds, and he has a growing experience with nights like these, to rein in his impulses until they feel like they are about to burst, and to set them upon a single target who’s deserving of his attentions.

It grants him a mild lucidity, until he chooses to ignore it altogether. Blessedly, it is just enough to hear the sound of another creature, footsteps heavy, nearby. The sound of flesh being rent, bones snapping. A feeding.

Sephiroth’s wings extend, large enough to blot out moonlight as he tracks the sound, gliding from one tree to another. Branches shudder in protest as he perches atop one in particular, high above, moon and starlight straining through his feathers, or reflecting off the silver of his hair.]

Zack.

[He would know that shape below him, changed as it is. The wings and the tail are new additions, but the frame of his body is the same, the lines of his shoulders, the back of his head hunched down to feed. The rational part of his mind dictates that he should watch him, speak with him, make certain that he will not give in too deeply to those animalistic instincts — his friend would not want to, on any other day or night.

The other part, the Harpy that feels so free in this range of forest, only wishes to engage and to see what might come of it.]

Do you recognize me?

[exsoldier]

[ As soon as a figure crosses the canopy overhead and blocks out the natural light beaming down from the twin moons, Zack becomes aware that he's not alone. That's been true for some time, as the Wilde is full of creatures big and small, infected and not -- most of them prey, but others are legitimate threats.

Whatever has fixed its sights on him, it falls into the second category. Animal instinct alone tells him that, but it's possible there's something familiar about the way this potential threat is looming over him, as well.

The creature he'd been ripping apart with his teeth and claws is forgotten as he lifts his head up, scanning the trees for where the harpy's landed. Then he spots it, draped in long silver hair, and a name is spoken.

Zack.

The name and the voice it's spoken in mean something, and for a moment the person lying dormant rears up in response to it. But with his Monster side having taken over almost completely and with no real bond to ground him, it's nearly impossible for the human part of him to maintain any sort of control. Recognition lights up in his now golden eyes, but only for a moment before the pupils contract and the beast takes over once more.

He makes a noise, something between a lion's growl and an eagle's cry, and then flaps his wings as a show of warning. Don't come any closer. ]

[supersoldier]

[It flickers and dies as quickly and transiently as an ember caught in the wind -- that reason, that lucidity that informs Sephiroth that Zack had recognized him for a flash of a dying moment. Is it promising that it exists at all, or disheartening that it's swept away so easily? Neither, he thinks, only smiling down at the challenge and warning given by his friend.

The branches lurch beneath Sephiroth's boots as he flutters off his perch and descends to the ground in a mass of black feathers and silver hair. He isn't armed with Masamune on this night; he likely does not need it, regardless, and there is an unshaken confidence draped around him as he unfolds himself to his full height. In the crescent smile that tugs at his lips.]

Or would you rather hurt me instead?

[A forward step, its own testing challenge. How much of a danger is he, truly? Zack would not want to be one to those around him -- that's the sliver of rationale that backs the overarching pull of animal, confronting instinct.]

[exsoldier]

[ Zack watches, almost transfixed, as the harpy descends from the tree with a sort of supernatural grace. Again, there's a familiarity in it that strikes deep into his core, filling him with a flash of fear and anger for just a moment as buried memories are temporarily unearthed.

The fight in the reactor. Swords clashing, a friend's face twisted into something sinister and terrible.

Maybe it's just the eagle or lion in him that wishes to protect its territory, or maybe it's that memory of a deadly clash, but something drives Zack toward this new opponent. He moves swiftly, another flap of his wings pushing him forward. Nails which have hardened into talons serve as his weapon; his raises his arms and then rakes those claws down in slashing movements, aiming to slice open his foe. ]

[supersoldier]

[Sephiroth has his answer. He has it in the flash of violence that follows his question almost immediately, those sharp claws lashing out and trying to rend feather and flesh from bone. If he held any measure of undiluted rationality in his mind, not gone hazy from the moons above, he would find this worrisome — would find it so very opposite of how he knows this man to be. But a Harpy’s instinct has him curious and predatory in his own right, even if it is tempered by a strained bond of friendship between them.

So he only feels the spark of a fight flourishing through every nerve-ending, latching onto a monster’s instinct and speed — a Harpy is so very quick, after all — and steps back in soundless movement, missing those claws by inches.

He should have Masamune here with him, a part of him whispers. He doesn’t need it, animal-esque instinct corrects, he has all he needs; his own body is a weapon, as it always has been.]

I see.

[And so he counters with a lunge forward, nothing but a flurry of black feathers fanning out and forward to disorient, descending upon Zack as though he were not a raging, angry thing. As though he were just a mouse in a forest, and Sephiroth makes an attempt to grasp him tight with his own taloned hands, sharp and glinting, a knee lurching out to aim straight into Zack’s torso. He'll drive him straight into the ground if he has to.

He’s still smiling the whole while.]

Let me do you a favor. You’ll thank me tomorrow.

[exsoldier]

[ The easy dodge from the chimera's opponent has another lance of anger running through it. Each time that its talons find nothing but air instead of tearing into warm flesh, that need to take down prey boils over. The smile that the harpy wears taunts him, drives him into more and more reckless decisions.

However, before he can do anything in retaliation or make another attempt to take the harpy by surprise, it is in fact the opposite that happens. The harpy moves with preternatural speed and is suddenly in the chimera's space. Sharp claws dig into his shoulders and then the knee follows, spearing him in the middle. He lurches forward and gasps, the wind knocked out of him, and is in no position to resist as he's shoved against the forest floor.

His faced pressed into leaves and mulch, a hand exerting pressure on the space on his back between his wings to keep him in place, the chimera begins to growl. Tail lashing, he shoves an elbow back and up into the air and also kicks up with one of his heels, doing everything in his power to try and force the harpy away. If he can get onto his feet again, maybe he'll still stand a chance -- ]

[supersoldier]

[Maybe he'd manage it, too, knocking force right into one of Sephiroth's bird-bones. They're fragile and weak now, despite the impossible force of his strength, pushing Zack down, down into the loam of the earth. They have broken before, have sent pain shooting through his nerves in a place much like this one, but Zack isn't so lucky. He lashes and growls and tries to move from beneath him, but Sephiroth keeps him pinned the best he can. Digs a knee straight into his stomach, grasps a taloned hand around the bones of the man's wrist, the other forearm pressing down like an iron bar against his neck.

Maybe he'll be scratched or bitten or bruised in the interim. But it doesn't matter; pain is faraway and exciting on a night like this one. And the things one does for a friend.]

Stay down, and stay still.

[-he says in a voice like silk, eyes like points of light in the dark. All he needs to do is drain the consciousness of Zack's, and it's done. He'll be whole and hale, just incapitated.]

Quiet.

[exsoldier]

[ All of the chimera's attempts to fight his way from the harpy's grip turn out to be in vain. Maybe if he remembered more, a story from Sephiroth about how he'd broken his collarbone, he might have been able to leverage that to his advantage. Then again, if he remembered that much, it's likely he wouldn't have been fighting back this much in the first place. Not just because he'd recognize how outclassed he was, but also...

They've done this before. It didn't end well. He doesn't really want to go through it again.

In a split second he's seized and flipped around so that his back is pressed into the forest floor. His own weight crushes his wings against the hard ground, and he snarls and thrashes, but then he's pinned by his neck.

The orders come, but he has no interest in listening to them. Even as his airway is closed and he struggles to breathe, still he fights to get free. He can't lose, not to this creature. His vision begins to blur, and he expects not the assistance of a friend but the cruelty of a fellow predator who's putting him down.

A memory flashes in again. The reactor, thick with the heady scent of mako, and the gleam of an impossibly long sword. More than that, though, it's the memory of those eyes, wide with madness, that haunts him as he loses consciousness.

Finally, he goes still. ]

[supersoldier]

[It happens rather quickly, when it's all said and done. For all the thrashing and furor, Sephiroth forces Zack into an unconscious quiet, and as he falls into the dark, he hums a note of approval.]

There.

[Looking at him now, lucidity and rationale are hazy things, but there was a point to this, wasn't there? Yes, he recalls it, now that buzz of conflict is bleeding out of his nerves. All for Zack's sake, all to calm him and bring him somewhere safe. Eyes lift to the forest around them, the canopy hanging overhead, the sound of wildlife still shifting and calling out even in the black of the night. He cannot keep him here, but there is one place that he might ferret him away until the morning comes.]

— — —

[And morning does come, filtering in through a window with the blinds only half-drawn. A beam of sunlight fixes itself firmly upon Zack's face, refusing to budge, and maybe that's enough to stir him back into awakeness. Regardless, whenever he does come to, he'll find himself neatly placed on the mattress of an unoccupied bed with clean sheets, amid a room that seems rather spartan for its lack of decor. There's an end table, an unlit lantern upon it, a desk in the far corner, and a chair.

Upon that chair sits Sephiroth, a book in his hand, his form far less feral-appearing than the night before, eyes cuttingly cogent as glances at his friend as he stirs. The book, still half-open, finds its way onto his lap.]

It's late.

[A very Sephiroth-esque greeting, less a greeting and more an informative remark -- someone slept in.]

How do you feel?

[exsoldier]

[ It is that persistent beam of light that falls right over his face that ends up rousing Zack from his deep, deep sleep. At first, as his eyes flutter open, the night before feels more like a very strange, very vivid set of dreams, rather than something that actually happened.

He doesn't know where he is, can't remember how he got here, and in a confused haze, turns his head to see the side table and the lantern sitting atop it. He blinks a few times, shifting in the bed and then groaning when the slightest of movements brings any number of aches.

Then, a voice, and suddenly he's wide awake.

Zack stares across the room and finds Sephiroth there, sitting with his perfect posture in a chair, a book laid in his lap. He's been waiting there, hasn't he? Waiting for him to wake up. And he's the one who...

Who chased him down, knocked him out, and brought him back here. Safe and sound, before he could hurt anyone.

It's a lot to process all at once, especially when Zack is still trying to sift through the series of confusing memories from the night before. He doesn't feel the weight of wings at his back, or the addition of a tail. His fingers feel stiff, but other than that, he seems to be back to normal. (As things stand, he's unable to see or feel the feathers that have grown in around his neck and into his hair.) ]

Uhh... like I got run over by a truck. [ He's managed to prop himself up on one elbow as he looks around. Not that there's much to see. ] Where are we?

[ He has an idea, but he wants to hear the answer all the same. ]

[supersoldier]

[He seems whole and hale enough, though no doubt experiencing the heavy weight of a post-full moon hangover that hits hardest when one isn't used to the experience. Sephiroth, too, feels a twinge at his temples, a dull throb that he's learned to ignore with willful stubbornness, but he can only imagine that Zack's assessment is a correct one. He probably does feel like he's been run over by a truck.

Still, better than the alternative. Better than finding himself in trouble, having torn someone else to shreds in the thrall of his feral form; Sephiroth remembers the thrashing and fighting and snarling, such a stark contrast to what he sees now. Now's it's only Zack as he knows him, with a few feathered changes subtly dotting his form.]

The guest room. This is the house that I live in now.

[So strange, still, to say the word "house" and claim it as his own. But ever since his prior housemates have disappeared, the space has been fully his to claim -- not that he's done much with it. What a barren and spartan place, with no sense of personality or personal touch. Then again, it is only a guest room, impeccably neat and beyond reprimand, at least.]

Do you remember what happened last night?

[exsoldier]

[ The house that Sephiroth lives in. For as strange as it might be for Sephiroth to say those words, it's almost just as strange for Zack to hear them. Despite the friendship they'd forged while both in SOLDIER, never once had Zack seen Sephiroth's quarters. He's pretty sure the same could be said for any other member of SOLDIER, save for maybe Genesis and Angeal. And even then...

With a grunt, Zack pushes himself up until he's sitting rather than half-laying. He sets his hands in his lap, curls his fingers and then stretches them out again. The skin there is just a little harder than it should be.

The question Sephiroth asks snaps him out of it, and his head tilts up as he tries to think back. A lot of it is a confused mess of a blur. He remembers smells (lilacs and gooseberries) and sounds (a low, wolfish growl) more than actual details, at first.

Thinking back on it makes his head feel like it might split open. ]

I... bits and pieces, I know I...

[ Lost control. Fell prey to the very thing he'd been warned about, because he hadn't been careful. More jolted memories flash into his mind, causing a groan to escape from between his lips as his head dips forward. He lifts up both hands to his temples, draws them back through his hair and —

Over feathers.

Zack freezes for a moment before he lets his hands fall back to his sides. His eyes open again and he sends a piercing stare across the room to where Sephiroth sits. ]

How much has changed?

[ It's not like he's got access to a mirror. ]