Lucy/Kaede (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
long_live_the_queen) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
middaeg2019-10-03 10:45 pm
long_live_the_queen) wrote in middaeg2019-10-03 10:45 pm
Octeuril Catch All
Who: Kaede and you! And people doing quests.
When: All month where convenient
Where: Within the City, The Slums, Outside the City
What: Another monthly thread container!
Warnings: Goose. Will update as needed.
I. Duck, duck...duck? [River Temese Bridge]
[One of the bridge's occupants doesn't seem interested in an argument, at least for the moment. Nor the lanterns, nor the decorations. No, Kaede's leaned over the rail and staring over the side, her scarlet feathered tail lashing in agitation behind her. She isn't being too mindful of where it's going, and smacking people in the ankles with it is a very real possibility. There's a stiff core to the tail, under all the fluffy feather.
Get close enough—an easier proposition this time, as she's distracted—and one can hear her mildly distressed muttering.]
...those ducks have shells on them.
[What the fuck. How long have they been this way. How long has this been happening.
This is messing her up.]
II. Garden Troubles [Slums]
[Seeing a garden—one that wasn't a mess of weeds, or a vandalized sunflower field—was nostalgic, in a way. As was...seeing parts of it all torn up. At least the pawprints around kept it from reminding her too much of that.
Kaede had split up—the better to flush the wolves out of whatever burrow they were hiding in. She could be quiet when she wished, her senses were sharp despite the rain, and she could get into places someone more human-shaped couldn't.
Something rustled the plants in a row nearby, and Kaede stilled. She couldn't see through to the other side—there was a heavily laden trellis in the way—but she could pinpoint the sound quite easily. The Chimera gathered herself, coiling her legs and back like a cat about to pounce, and sprang up, almost ten feet up, until she could clear the trellis and come back down on the sound.
...and, hopefully, what was rustling on the other side of the trellis was one of the creatures they were after, and not a person. That would just be dreadfully inconvenient, wouldn't it.
At least the Chimera's on the smaller side.]
III. honk [Outside the City]
[Kaede didn't choose this quest. It chose her, with a yank on her tail. And a sharp pain from a few of her feathers coming away, but mostly from the sheer indignity of it. The Chimera roars—a proper one, not a grumbly mumble—and whirls about, but the culprit was already dashing away down the dirt road, a few of her scarlet feathers clutched in a clawed hand.
The goose-feathered Harpy finds this all quite hilarious, shrieking with laughter as he dashes off, the Chimera hot on his heels. He's quite fast, though, even without flying. The Harpy occasionally makes a few fluttering hops when she gets too close, but he doesn't take off.
Occasionally, Kaede's chased the Harpy up onto some building—a barn, a cottage, a stable—and is sitting crouched at the bottom, tail lashing like a frustrated cat. The Harpy looked fairly smug up there.
Sometimes Kaede doesn't make it that far, though. Her knees had been prone to aching lately, sometimes going a bit numb. And this time they crumpled entirely, sending the Chimera toppling facefirst into the road. It wasn't raining today, but the ground was still plenty damp—and mud got on her clothes and once-bright feathers immediately. Kaede tried to get back up, but only pins and needles answered where her legs should have been.
Worst of all, the Harpy was impossibly far away down the road now. His off-white feathers were mockingly bright against the fading summer colors.]
Get back here you little shit—
[Kaede's opinions were intact! She'll probably live. After she gets back up.]
Wildcard
[For prompts or closed threads not seen here! My plotting post is here for ease of use. ]
When: All month where convenient
Where: Within the City, The Slums, Outside the City
What: Another monthly thread container!
Warnings: Goose. Will update as needed.
I. Duck, duck...duck? [River Temese Bridge]
[One of the bridge's occupants doesn't seem interested in an argument, at least for the moment. Nor the lanterns, nor the decorations. No, Kaede's leaned over the rail and staring over the side, her scarlet feathered tail lashing in agitation behind her. She isn't being too mindful of where it's going, and smacking people in the ankles with it is a very real possibility. There's a stiff core to the tail, under all the fluffy feather.
Get close enough—an easier proposition this time, as she's distracted—and one can hear her mildly distressed muttering.]
...those ducks have shells on them.
[What the fuck. How long have they been this way. How long has this been happening.
This is messing her up.]
II. Garden Troubles [Slums]
[Seeing a garden—one that wasn't a mess of weeds, or a vandalized sunflower field—was nostalgic, in a way. As was...seeing parts of it all torn up. At least the pawprints around kept it from reminding her too much of that.
Kaede had split up—the better to flush the wolves out of whatever burrow they were hiding in. She could be quiet when she wished, her senses were sharp despite the rain, and she could get into places someone more human-shaped couldn't.
Something rustled the plants in a row nearby, and Kaede stilled. She couldn't see through to the other side—there was a heavily laden trellis in the way—but she could pinpoint the sound quite easily. The Chimera gathered herself, coiling her legs and back like a cat about to pounce, and sprang up, almost ten feet up, until she could clear the trellis and come back down on the sound.
...and, hopefully, what was rustling on the other side of the trellis was one of the creatures they were after, and not a person. That would just be dreadfully inconvenient, wouldn't it.
At least the Chimera's on the smaller side.]
III. honk [Outside the City]
[Kaede didn't choose this quest. It chose her, with a yank on her tail. And a sharp pain from a few of her feathers coming away, but mostly from the sheer indignity of it. The Chimera roars—a proper one, not a grumbly mumble—and whirls about, but the culprit was already dashing away down the dirt road, a few of her scarlet feathers clutched in a clawed hand.
The goose-feathered Harpy finds this all quite hilarious, shrieking with laughter as he dashes off, the Chimera hot on his heels. He's quite fast, though, even without flying. The Harpy occasionally makes a few fluttering hops when she gets too close, but he doesn't take off.
Occasionally, Kaede's chased the Harpy up onto some building—a barn, a cottage, a stable—and is sitting crouched at the bottom, tail lashing like a frustrated cat. The Harpy looked fairly smug up there.
Sometimes Kaede doesn't make it that far, though. Her knees had been prone to aching lately, sometimes going a bit numb. And this time they crumpled entirely, sending the Chimera toppling facefirst into the road. It wasn't raining today, but the ground was still plenty damp—and mud got on her clothes and once-bright feathers immediately. Kaede tried to get back up, but only pins and needles answered where her legs should have been.
Worst of all, the Harpy was impossibly far away down the road now. His off-white feathers were mockingly bright against the fading summer colors.]
Get back here you little shit—
[Kaede's opinions were intact! She'll probably live. After she gets back up.]
Wildcard
[For prompts or closed threads not seen here! My plotting post is here for ease of use. ]
wildcard: accidental home invasion
So. Breakfast. Frankly, he's not that hungry. If it was just him, he would have forgotten. But Giorno didn't forget: make sure you eat a good breakfast before you leave, is what he was told before Giorno slipped back into his bedroom, closed up and dark, in a tone of voice that was more of an order than a friendly reminder. It's weird cooking in someone else's kitchen, but-- orders are orders. Maybe he'll get lucky and finish before Giorno's housemates wake up.]
[Unfortunately, although not surprisingly, luck is not on Fugo's side. Someone is awake. Kaede will likely be able to smell what he's working on before she enters the room. First coffee, dark and bitter. And then-- butter, onions, garlic, and peppers. Fugo is currently in the middle of chopping some greens; he's already cracked and whisked some eggs, which are set off to the side. Once the guts of the dish are finished, it will all go in the oven to eventually become a frittata.
As he works, he thinks about writing a note to leave behind with the peace offering-slash-leftovers to explain their existence and his presence. Would that be strange? Should he just leave it to Giorno? Ugh. He bites the inside of his cheek, then anxiously taps the toe of his shoe against the floor; his posture over the cutting board is tight, anxious, and defensive. Although he's not short, he holds himself in a way to occupy the least amount of space possible. This coffee... needs to be ready faster. He is not caffeinated enough for all of this.]
no subject
The time, though, was. The Chimera's sleep schedule was all over the place these days, but she was generally aware of the other habits of people in this house. No one usually made hot food this early in the morning, just the coffee or tea and whatever simple thing Kaede had made for herself the previous night. Or bread, or cheese, or other easily acquired things. So there must be a stranger in the house. After the incidents with vandals tearing up Maria's garden and painting wretched things on the walls. the Chimera was a bit...antsy about strange people in the house. But she'd made the rounds of the outskirts already—no broken windows, no torn up plants. That just left indoors, with the burglar in the kitchen.
...who'd break in just to use their kitchen, though? That merited some further investigation. The antlered Monster slipped in through a side door leading to the kitchen, not the main one with light leaking through its doorway. Her red eyes reflected the dim light in the attached dining room, making it a simple thing to pick her way past the chairs. Another shadow amidst the others, this one red-eyed and moving.
There was someone in the kitchen, a human? Unarmed, unless the knife he was chopping those vegetables with counted. Not a vandal, probably. And he...didn't seem to have noticed her. Kaede stopped before she walked into the kitchen proper, hovering around the end of the table.
Finally, the Chimera spoke, a low voice rumbling out of the dark.]
Who the fuck are you.
no subject
[Icewater snaps and cracks in his veins as something raw and violent surges in him. Fight or flight. Before he processes the question he has been asked, before everything that this morning has been catches back up with him, his brain registers the implicit threat in Kaede's voice. He's been caught out. This place isn't safe, but at least he has a knife--
Fugo closes his eyes. Forces himself to breathe. Reminds himself that Giorno would not willingly send him into danger; that Giorno trusts him to keep himself safe.]
[He lets go of the knife. More than that, he pushes the cutting board, knife and greens and all, out of easy grabbing range. And since he has to deal with one of Giorno's housemates, he moves the pan he was cooking with off the fire. It would be stupid to let it burn. Then, and only then, does he turn around to face someone who is-- even though his own heart is pounding painfully between his temples, he knows he's the interloper here.]
[Stiffly:] Pannacotta Fugo. I'm an associate of Giorno's. I arrived last night. He brought me here, but had to-- [His throat works. As much as he wants to keep his face still, his expression twists.] He had to go back to his room. Because of the light.
no subject
Still, this was promising. And--he pushed the food off the burner? Less acrid smells to choke her nose with later, how thoughtful.]
Did he, now.
[Slowly, deliberately, the Chimera stepped into the light. Not to get a better look at him--she'd already done that. But so he would have a better glimpse of just whose house he'd walked into. Red feathers, claws, antlers and all.]
no subject
It helps that he's used to the strange. And she's no stranger than any Stand he's seen. Horns, feathers, and fur. What's strange is how all these parts, which rightfully should belong to at least three different creatures, come together as a whole.]
If you want to confirm it with him, he probably isn't asleep yet. [Knowing Giorno, who hates the feeling of being unable to take action, he's probably pacing restlessly around his room.] And you're Kaede.
[Kaede, the chimera. Good at killing. Kind to animals. Maria, the monster-slaying witch. Giorno very happily described (at length) how dangerous both of them were and how much he liked them for it, but didn't think to even write a note introducing Fugo to them. Typical Giorno.]
Sorry for intruding. I was-- planning to leave. Before the two of you woke up.
[Since this isn't his house. He's no stranger to feeling out of place, but this morning his skin crawls with the sense that he doesn't belong.]