( OPEN ) we’re gonna crash your party

[digiorno]

Who: Giorno & ny’all
When: End of Aguril, all of Septeril
Where: Aefenglom (generally and Bad Decisions Haus); Dorchact for most of Septeril
What: Backdated transformations for Aguril and Giorno doing his best to keep his temper and actually be helpful in Dorchact.
Warnings:


i. you fucked the world up now ( full moon, aguril )

[When he wakes up, he is a bat.]

[This should be more of a dramatic realization than it is. He should wake up and be extremely alarmed or something, probably. But he isn’t. Maybe because he’s sort of been expecting it; most other vampires have already hit this stage, and it seems to be a relatively tolerable one. But maybe it’s because bats simply aren’t capable of the level of drama he operates at ordinarily. Giorno, in bat form, is content enough.]

[But hungry. So it is that, after some time wrestling out from under his own copious blankets, Kaede and Maria’s kitchen is beset by a small hungry menace fluttering upon the counters and searching for fruit. He army-crawls from his awkward landing smushed up against the wall and investigates the sink. Any fruit in here? Where’s the fucking fruit?]

[Later, he can be found dive-bombing innocents who have interesting-looking snacks, or latching onto the cloaks of people he’s familiar with to catch a rest and a ride to somewhere new. Don’t look at him like that. He knows you recognize him, peasant.]

ii. we’ll fuck it all back down ( waning moon, aguril )

[The aftereffects of this moon aren’t as bad as the previous one, although to be fair, not much could be worse than a sudden and uncontrollable need to drink human blood. That’s still bottom-of-the-barrel awful. This month, it’s a minor cosmetic change, one he doesn’t entirely hate — his ears have gone to slight points, easy to hide under his hair or a hat if he absolutely must.]

[And he’s tired. Of course he’s tired, considering everything, but . . . it’s different than the exhaustion other people experience after a full moon. Every month after the moon, his body aches more, moves more awkwardly. Everything takes more effort.]

[Plus, there’s the other thing. His mouth is . . . sensitive. Strangely so. It’s not teething or gum tenderness, exactly; he had that earlier, when his new teeth first came in. No, he just feels better when he’s chewing on something. Which gets embarrassing. Sometimes a guy just wants to hang out in a coffee shop, or in a library, and worry a straw or a pen or something in his teeth without getting funny looks.]

What?

[Okay, or he genuinely has no idea he’s doing it. It could also be that, considering that sometimes what he’s caught chewing on is his own shirt collar.]

iii. we’ll put water in your guns ( dorchact, library )

[Speaking of libraries: one of the few places that seems halfway like a refuge in Dorchact is the library. Hair curling in loose tendrils over his shoulders and down his back, Giorno looks, but for his ever-gaunter appearance, like he belongs here, and even that can be explained away. What can’t so well is the look of horrified disgust he can’t quite school off his face, not yet.]

[He’s been to the barracks. He tried to go undercover there, to pose as a handler, but — he doesn’t know what it was. Maybe she felt how sick he got all of a sudden. But Zelda was there in the back of his head, quiet caution, and — he left. He had to go. There was no way he could stay without blowing everything.]

[Here in the library, he runs shaking fingers bedecked with tri-star rings over the spines of books, pulling some out at random as the thought occurs. History of the military, mostly, and how much of it connects to Morgana Drummond. Should he see any familiar faces, he beckons with the subtle crook of one finger.]

Help me fill in these gaps. [There are so goddamn many, unsurprisingly.]

iv. we’ll do it all for fun ( dorchact, resistance )

[It’s in the company of the Resistance that he feels the most comfortable and the most stable. There’s plenty to be done in Dorchact, but he’s beginning to recognize the flare of his temper and knows that being here, among the people in need, is what suits best at the moment.]

[He strives to be a mirror for his people. There are not his people — but each Monster seeking freedom feels important all the same. Quiet as a mouse, he sits alongside a naga in the shadow of the docks, her trembling uncontrollably at the thought of leaving everything behind and the still-present pull of Dorchact on her mind. Him with a hand on her shoulder, steady; gaze on hers, steady; waiting until she’s ready, until he can help her onto the waiting ship.]

[This is one scene of many. He darts in and out of the Resistance’s many clandestine hideouts, offering a hand here, a word of reassurance there, assistance with logistics in a third place. Sometimes what he offers is a cup of tea or coffee and a moment of quiet.] It’s difficult to be a refugee, [is how he explains this if asked.] The least we can offer is empathy.

v. wildcard

[Since Giorno is in Dorchact this month via Portkey, he’s only available in Aefenglom from Sept. 1-5, but I’m happy to set something then if you’d like. Additionally, I’m happy to write private starters generally, including more everyday survival stuff in Dorchact. Just PM or message at passiones if there’s something you’d like in particular.]

Comments

[digiorno]

[Ryslig follows different rules, it's fine.]

[Giorno wouldn't laugh at her in his human body — he has better self-control than that — but in batbody, he can't help but let out a small chirp. Too high for human ears to hear, probably, but Kaede's certainly can. It's all very funny to him until she jumps up on the counter.]

[Very close. Which causes him to pause, considering, and shrinking back into the shadow as he does so.]

[On the one hand: it's Kaede. She could easily rip him limb from limb in this form, and possibly even his regular form if he's being honest. On the other hand, she's being . . . weirdly sweet? If that's even the right word for it. He watches her with beady black eyes for a moment, unmoving.]

[Well. What, is he supposed to distrust his roommate this much? Paranoia says yes, common sense says no. After a long pause, he flaps clumsily off the doorframe and onto her outstretched hand. Which he dangles off of by his claws and almost loses his grip before regaining security. Jesus. He's not good at this.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Oblivious to its meaning, the Chimera's ears twitched towards the sound—it made it easier to find where it was coming from, in case the eyes peering back at her weren't clue enough. A bat? It sounded too squeaky to be a bird. She heard bats chittering around the lightposts sometimes, swooping after bugs or whatever bats did.

This one just...hopped into her hand, though, after a moment of consideration. Kaede had a steep upward struggle to keep her hand still when a small but definite shadow jumped into it. But there was no sharp pain from little needle teeth digging into her hand, or any indignant squeaking of the "death before dishonor" variety.

Had Kaede been a biologist, or at least done a few Google searches, she'd be more wary of rabies or the fact that bats were disease vectors for literally everything. But she wasn't, and hadn't. Besides she's only like 3/4ths mammal now, it's probably fine. Bat was soft. Bat was...hanging off of her hand like it was going to plummet to the tiles. That wouldn't do.]

Careful.

[Where the Chimera was nonchalant, even cold when dealing with others, she was gentle with the bat, scooping it up with a careful hand back into her palm. Its little claws were scratchy things, but Kaede seemed unbothered by them.]

Let's get you outside.

["Let's," like this was a team effort.]

[digiorno]

[Well, it sort of is. Giorno would need the help getting outside if he were a real bat, and she'd need his cooperation to accomplish it. Never mind the fact that he would really rather stay inside, thanks. It doesn't seem like he gets much input in this decision.]

[It is kind of nice, though. She's holding him very carefully, speaking softly. It's almost like she likes animals more than people, he thinks, and then amends, Well, so do I. People are terrible, after all. He'd probably like to hold a bat, if he weren't one currently.]

[After some thought, he nestles down into her palm and puts one foreclaw up to rest on her thumb. Hi, friend. Please do not take him outside, give him a snack instead.]

THIS TAG DIDN'T POST screaming

[long_live_the_queen]

[...oh no. Oh no. Help. It's so fucking cute. Kaede actually came to a stop, a little curl starting at the corner of her mouth.

Maybe...in a minute, she'd go outside. After she strokes the pad of a finger over the bat's soft fuzzy head. It didn't seem inclined to snap or squeak at her, or do any other alarmed bat things. Whatever those were. Kaede was fairly sure none of them involved curling up in her palm like a handful of velvet fuzz.]

dreamwidth why

[digiorno]

[Is . . . that a smile. That’s a smile, holy shit. Giorno almost stops his newly-patented Cute Bat Routine in shock. Fortunately for his Oscar nomination, she starts petting his head. Which. Is so relaxing?]

[He closes his little bat eyes and leans into it, absolutely zoned out. Still leaning on her thumb. This is the life. Forget snacks, just pet his head forever while standing in the middle of the kitchen floor.]