middaeg | Everybody wants to be a cat~!

Who: Yako and Konoe
When: Black City
Where: ... Black City
What: can I say Black City again?
Warnings: TBA; so far nothing but the event-specific ones

They should be used to these dreams by now, he thinks. They should be - but he, for one, is really not.

To say this place is gloomy doesn't begin to cover it. The very atmosphere is suffocating, and Konoe can't even pinpoint why, only that it definitely and beyond a shadow of a doubt is. Maybe it's silly to feel things this intensely when it's only a dream, but then, maybe it being a dream is precisely why everything feels a little too much.

He's not overly prone to needing or even wanting company - or so he would claim - but under these circumstances? He's very happy to have found a familiar face to get through this dream with, sticking to Yako's side as they make their way through the city. His ears are lowered slightly, the overwhelming sense of something being off bearing down on him.

"What is with this place..?" It's a rhetorical question, for the most part - not that he'd mind an actual answer.

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"The locals call it Dorchacht," Yako answers, voice quiet. She'd had the chance to ask a few questions of the locals before bumping into Konoe, and her expression is troubled. Sure, it may be a dream, but if previous experience is any judge, there's ties to the real world to be found here, somewhere. It being set in the same year also leaves her uneasy.

Though she tries to keep her spirits up for Konoe's sake as much as her own, even as she looks around worriedly. That they're somewhere alien is obvious enough, but what she sees of how monsters are treated here leave her uneasy -- the collars all too visible, and she's already seen a few forced to obey commands.

Konoe may not have done a lot of investigating before - which is probably for the best, all things considered - but he honestly doesn't care about things like a name, anyway. He's more interested in how this city works... and at the same time, vaguely terrified of finding out. After all, what he sees isn't exactly good. Even without having a complete picture, this place makes his fur stand on end.

"Is it really all the monsters that are -...?"

He tries to figure out both his thoughts and feelings by talking about what he keeps seeing, but he's interrupted by a loud 'You!' from a local witch walking up to them.

Yako’s waiting for him to complete his thought, sending there’s more on his mind, but the interruption draws her up short, making her look over at the approaching witch. They seem a businesslike, aggressive sort, taller than her or Konoe.

“Is there something I can help you with?” Yako asks, before Konoe can interject, time conciliatory and deferential. Just a genuinely concerned citizen of Dorchacht our for a walk, minding her own business — nothing to see here!

The local witch sadly disagrees that there's nothing to see, even though they continue to try their damnedest not to look at the topic of their ire - not that Konoe even realizes what that is until the witch talks again.

"Is that yours?" They jerk their head in Konoe's direction, and immediately Konoe feels all his fur bristling. Whatever else is going on in this city, he's not about to be treated as some thing!

He's already opening his mouth to lash out, verbally if not physically. Do please try to interrupt him before he gets anywhere. "That's -...!"

Yako doesn’t like the other witch’s tone any more than Konoe does, but she quickly senses this isn’t the proper time to argue — they’re already frowning at him just for opening his mouth.

“He is,” she says, instead, reaching up to set her hand on Konoe’s shoulder upper arm, a silent form of restraint. The look she gives him is steady, and her expression and stance shifts to confidence. It works to draw the other witch’s attention back to her.

“He’s mine,” she says, more firmly, projecting a certainty she doesn’t feel. “Is there a problem with that?”

It's the unexpectedness of the touch, more than anything else, that silences Konoe instantly, distracting him from his instinctive need to lash out. Yako's words seem to float around in his head for a moment before he can make sense of them - and of the native witch's problem, too.

He really shouldn't be surprised to be considered a monster, after all these months. But it still bothers him, and suddenly the implications of his looks in a place like this start sinking in, sending chills down his spine.

The native witch, meanwhile, is not that impressed, but in light of Yako's claim, they can't really do much more than complain. "If it's yours, put a collar on it." Their look shifts back to Konoe. "And keep it under better control, lest someone do it for you."

Konoe glares back at the witch, fisting his hands in an effort to keep his claws from extending. He wishes he were in a forest right now; he hasn't felt such an intense need to sharpen his claws on some poor tree in ages.

"Thank you for the advice," Yako answers, keeping her tone firm. "But we have other errands to run, so if you'll excuse us..."

That's her cue to start steering Konoe away from the other witch before things can escalate too badly. Hopefully, they can get away without too much attention, but if this doesn't work, they may have to resort to something else...

Konoe is too easy to provoke at the best of times, and this really isn't the best of times. Anger coils within him, not used to being held back. He hasn't felt this overcome by emotions since he still had his empathy.

But with Yako to do the talking for the both of them, he manages to stay silent. Thanks to her, they get an opening to leave, and leave is what Konoe starts doing, trying to ignore the nerves and anger still prickling at the back of his neck.

One step.

Two steps...

"Wait," begins the native witch - and suddenly Konoe can't hold back anymore. Grabbing Yako's wrist, he makes a run for it, as hard as he can, heading nowhere in particular. He doesn't even know if what the witch wanted to say was a risk to them in any way, but he knows one thing: whether they were in trouble or not, he would have gotten them in trouble if he'd stayed there any longer.

A shout goes up behind them as they make a break for it, Yako’s legs working hard to keep up with Konoe as he drags her off. Luckily for them, this is a dream, and Yako’s powers are better than what they would be in waking hours: as Konoe flees, she chants hurriedly, summoning a temporary enchantment to render them invisible — or at the very least, unremarkable. The sounds of pursuit fade after a few minutes, but by then they’ve gotten deep into a warren-like maze of alleyways.

“Konoe,” Yako gasps, “I think ... I think they’re gone, now.”

Everybody wants to be a cat~!

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