2023.06.23 Goosing Around
| 2023.06.23 Goosing Around | |
|---|---|
| Wulfra, trying out a new form, encounters Xiu in way she's never seen anyone before.... | |
| IC Date | 2023.06.23 |
| IC Time | Morning |
| Players | Wulfra, Xiu |
| Location | Deep Forest - South |
| Spheres | Mage, Bygone |
It's a very cloudy, almost rainy looking, dull morning. The air leans towards being just a bit too cold for most to wear summer clothing, but it also means it's quite quiet in the outdoorsy spaces today. The air is as still as ice... but the forest doesn't seem to mind one bit. In a decently large sized pond out here, there is something that's a bit of an oddity... a black waterfowl with a nice vibrantly red beak. Any who knows their stuff would recognize it as a goose or swan... though not a kind normally found in this area. It just seems to wander around the pond, occasionally sticking its head under for extended periods.
A tranquil, silent morning, all in all. It's in this grey, somewhat foggy morning that a ghost of a creatue is passing through these woods. Silent, barely leaving traces. Inhuman eyes gaze out at the world, as a certain primal witch is on the prowl. Quite literally, too. Moving through her territory with the patience and vigilance that such a task demands - and in a form that nobody would mistake for human, or animal. Digitigrade legs and strange, almost handlike taloned feet carry her quietly. Two pairs of arms move at the sides of her torso, the musculature adjusted for the additional limbs. Curved horns bend over that head with its mass of long braids. Feline eyes stare out at the world, and rows of sharp, pointy teeth sit behind human lips. Accenting it all is an equally human-skinned, long tail dancing through the air behind.
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> Xiu rolls Perception + Awareness vs 7 for 1 successes. 1 2 6 +9 10 <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> Wulfra rolls Perception(4) + Awareness(3) (7 dice) vs 7 for 1 successes. 1 3 4 5 6 +9 10 <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->
As soon as the half-human, half-animal -thing- comes into view, the attention of the goose is immediately drawn to her. It swims closer once the thing isn't looking in the goose's direction, though still a ways away.... Meanwhile, as soon as the Xiu-thing came upon this sector of the forest, the sense of something odd struck her. Like there's something intangible here -missing- that should be there... combined with the feeling of many eyes that just aren't there.
And the witch creature immediately freezes - stopped mid-step. Eerilie perfectly holding still in the middle of the motion, while her head subtly turns. She even sniffs, a couple of times, but visually..there is nothing amiss. Not even that strange goose. She remains motionsless for a moment, before her lips begin to move. A low, growed, murmured chant while one of those four arms lifts. A gesture of curled fingers, as the witch's feline eyes continue to gaze around - and life, as it is, becomes more visible to her senses. Her eyes. Her nose. Even her ears...
As the Xiu-thing freezes. the goose stops in its swimming as well. It glances around, as if looking for something, then susbequently sticks its head quickly into the water. As the witch attunes herself to the forest's life, she can feel the movement of the area around her is very still. It's normal for the larger animals to clear out when there's such a predator around as her, but that's currently amplified... there's nary a bird in the trees. Yet the feeling of many -eyes- watching remains.
It takes a moment. Xiu is used to this sense - touching the life in the forest. A mixture of sight, smell and hearing the very pulse of the Goddess' creation that no mortal could understand. Like describing the color blue to a blind person. It just cannot be done. It is not the abundance of life that gets her though. Nor is it any sensing of a form of life that is unusual, like hers. No, it is the *lack* of life in the creature she looks again from afar. The witch looks at it for a long moment. And then she begins to move again, straight towards it.
As the Xiu-thing stops... whatever she's doing... and starts moving towards the black goose with a singular focus, it takes it a bit to pull its head out of the water. But when it -does-, it immediately notices the pursuit and locks in place. A wordless message is sent through the aether, directly to Xiu... the goose thing not seeming to realize it might just not work. <`Wait! I am the Wulfra!`>
The witch creature does not change course, nor walk slower. It's not like she is coming running, or snarling, or anything that is *obviously* aggressive. But she stays the course, at one point even dropping onto all sixes and crawling. Closer. Closer. And, if Wulfa does not move away... ...the witch moves right up to that goose, and licks the beak with a long, strange, inhuman tongue coming from between those human lips. "Hello."
Seeing the Xiu thing doesn't seem to be moving aggressively, the Wulfra goose stays where they are. The goose's hesad does not move in response to the lick, staying silent for a bit before speaking in a gravely half-honking voice back. `HI. Your FLESH is... NICE today.`
Xiu grins at that, showing rows of those sharp, pointy teeth - actually, she laughs softly, given the 'half-honking' of the voice just strikes the witch creature as...incredibly funny. "Ahhh, thank you..." she says, before she begins to crawl around the goose, looking at it from all sides. "Your flesh is...as fake as before." she says, with a certain disappointment in that voice. Not that she is disappointed that Wulfra is not, actually, a goose. "A shame. How are you, Wulfra?"
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> Wulfra rolls Intelligence(3) + Science(1) (4 dice) vs 6 for 3 successes. 3 +8 +9 +9 <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->
`I TRY... very HARD... I have been AWAY... learning....` the Goose Wulfra says, neck bending back around itself in an almost sad looking gesture before it moves to look over Xiu more closely. `Your FORM is... MANY THINGS... MIXED... I have NOT seen THIS before... or TRIED. Very... INTERESTING.`
"It is, it is..." Xiu says as she continues to slowly crawl around the goose. The predatory, muscular hybrid body of the witch moving steadily, slowly. "Human or other animal, mixtures of them, male, female and mixtures of those, I have been many things..." she says, her tail slowly waving behind her. "But this is one I am fond of. it suits my needs."
`I THOUGHT... living things CAN NOT do the MATING with DIFFERENT SHAPES. Is this NATURAL?` The goose Wulfra replies, eyes following Xiu with jerky bird head movements all the way around.
Xiu lets out a soft laugh, stopping in front of the 'goose', before she leans back into a low crouch. Not modest, that witch. "Oh, I have mated with different things, as different things, but I have not bred with many, no. No.." She shakes her head and lifts one of her arms, gazing at the claws. "This is not the result of mating. I simply changed my body. I did not have to mate with anything, for this." Her eyes find the 'goose' again, amused.
`HONK... yes... I SEE.` The not-goose stares up at Xiu... before a bit of what looks to be black smoke billows from its beak. Suddenly, a set of gleaming white teeth sprout from it, giving the bird a toothy grin before tilting its head questioningly. `You use the MATING to help FEEL what INSIDES are supposed to BE? That is... TRICKY part. People do not like INSIDES being OUTSIDE.`
Xiu once more lets out a soft laugh. "No, I can sense the insides if I want to.." she says, amused. "I simply mate to mate. To experience the mating. And to breed, at times" she explains. Another grin, her tail slowly flicking behind her. "After all, mating is very enjoyable." A light shrug of her shoulders moves her upper pair of arms, all four forearms resting on her raised, somewhat spread muscular thighs in that crouch. "...I am sure you have mated before, yes?" She does not know what Wulfra *is*, but she knows that more often than not, even the strangest of creatures mate. Heck, she is sure there are spirits that do it.
`MAYBE? I have certainly not BRED... no EGGS. Especially NOT ones like MINE.` Goosefra says asthe smoke from the small trasnformation dissipates. It carries with it that campfire scent Xiu smelled before... and that slight acrid twinge that makes her nose want to shrivel.
"....maybe?" Xiu echoes, eyebrows rising at *that* statement. She cants her head to the side. "'maybe'?" she echoes again. "You are not sure if you have mated before?" the witch creature wonders - clearly a bit confused there, and there is a subtle pulling back from the smoke for a moment, while one of those four arms moves...to play with some of her braids. Habits die hard.
`I have encountered MANY strange SPIRITS... MANY strange THINGS. Was not PLEASANT like you SAY... not until coming HERE. I have done THINGS... but I am STILL learning... so I cannot SAY for SURE.` Goosefra replies, pulling out their broad, dark wings... presumably to stretch.
Xiu blinks again...and another soft laugh comes, her tail flicking before she reaches between her legs, spreading her folds with two fingers while pointing with another hand at them. "Has something put anything ever into your genitalia?" she asks, before she pulls the hands away, letting them rest once more - still amused that the other creature, whatever she (given the name) is, does not *know*.
The toothy goose looks down to what Xiu demonstrates, staring. `NO... nothing that looks like THAT... THOUGH things have gone INSIDE in MANY PLACES.` Wulfra then steps away some, body facing the other way. `The MALE and FEMALE thing was SOMETHING I had to be TAUGHT... I just use FEMALE forms because they TEND to be PRETTIER.`
"Hah. I see.." Xiu says, tilting her horned head. "So, do you at least know if you are male or female?" she wonders, straightening in her crouch a bit as she still looks at the goose. Oh, she has a feeling she is not even looking anywhere near the real creature, but..it is like with cameras and monitors. It just helps to have 'someone' to look at.
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> Xiu rolls Perception + Awareness vs 7 for 2 successes. 2 3 4 +7 +10 <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->
`NEITHER? BOTH I do not KNOW... the MAGE could not TELL.` The not-goose mutters, fluttering their wings a bit... leaving smoky particulate in the air. As Xiu watches the thing closer, however, her sight-beyond-sight starts to pick through the 'disguise' more and more. It's like there's a cloud of smoke condensed down into a tight, nearly impossible to see through density... but the vague shape of something -long-, -spiky-, and -deep- can be seen. The heat it gives off is acute, almost volcanic... like a yawning, hungering crucible.
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> Xiu rolls Arete vs 4 for 5 successes. +7 +7 +8 +8 +10 <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->
Xiu hrms...before she slowly rises onto her feet, those strange legs stretching. She gazes down at the gose, before she steps around it...and in front of the pond, gazing down at the water. "Let's see..." she says, before her arms rise..and she begins to gesture, eyes closed as the witch creature begins to chant - deeply, growling, a chant in a strange language. Yet somewhat melodic. Like an ages old song. And it takes minutes, as she does so, standing there, focusing as if in prayer. Finally however, her eyes open, there is a soft, long exhale...and she lents herself drop forward. Towards that pond. Hitting it with a splash.. ..as the momentum, combined with a flexing of musculature carries her upward, out of that pond...on the umbral side, water dripping off her.
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> Wulfra rolls 5 (5 dice) vs 5 for 3 successes. 3 4 +6 +7 +9 <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->
The Goosefra watches Xiu as she does her curious things... then as she goes to belly flop into the pond. As soon as Xiu hits the water, though, Wulfra immediately picks up what she's doing... and goes to follow. Flapping a wing down, they create a small cloud of smoke... then subsequently disappear into it. Xiu, on the other side, can see a cloud of that swirling, mystical smoke appear too... from which the goose steps out of.
Xiu takes a moment to glance around the penumbral landscape of the woods. To her, of course, her eyes see the vivid, impressive and wild represenation of the middle penumbra - and for a moment she steps around, gazing at the tall, towering trees, larger than life on this side, and the lunes and glade children dancing. She cannot help but smile softly - before she turns and gazes at...the still-goose. "I presume.." she finally says, still shaking off some drops.. "...that you can reveal yourself much easier here."
`You MOVE using the WATER... INTERESTING.` The still-goose comments. They stop for a moment, looking around. `...YES. I CAN.` Wulfra steps further away, already giving off wisps of 'shadow' here... but soon -explodes- into a torrent of the smoky stuff. It swirls in an almost mesmerizing way, ocassional sparkles of orange and red poking out from it. After a few seconds... ehat looks to be a huge, thick tail plops out of it, onto the Umbral earth... and several eyes of piercing fire stare through it. A set of 4 other limbs soon rocket out of the sides...the what looks to be -wings-, only the frayed membranes seem to be made out of condensed smoke... the edges trailijg thr stuff even after leaving the cloud. With a flap of them, the cloud finally dissipates... showing off their full form. What's more... Xiu can see that the spirits of this place are staying -far- away. There's almost a bubble where none lf them are... the ones at the edge all staring at Wulfra. Even the grass where she steps seems to recoil, as if in pain.
And as Wulfra finally reveals itself...Xiu inhales softly, and then grins wide as she slowly, patiently looks the curious creature over. And then? She begins to walk, moving close, one of her arms reaching out to brush over those scales along the neck, while she gazes into those actual eyes for the first time. "Hello." she says, before she leans towards that neck and sniffs...and then moves along Wulfra's side. Like the first time they met, she brushes along the creature, this time in an upright walk while that hand explores a bit more, and those feline eyes of hers gaze upon those strange wings.
Wulfra takes a moment to stretch, then stands tall as Xiu begins to approach. `...hello.` They say in a voice that sounds more like the purr of a car engine than a creature. The -eyes- she manages to find still enough to stare into are more like portals to a dimension of pure fire than pigment upon an object... going deeper the longer you look. The arm reaching against thescales can immediately feel why the plant spirits would shy away from them... it's like touching a warm radiator... though not hot enough to cause damage to a normal creature. The scales feel smooth, almost like sanded igneous rock, and subtly move around, though at once feeling firm. And, of course, the smell now is very strong... both pleasant and not at once.
The witch creature continues to brush her hand over those scales - and then up over the 'fur' along the back. "You are pretty." she says, her tail flicking a couple of times before she continues to silently move forward, brushing along Wulfra, towards the hindlegs. Then the hand drifts along the upper side of the tail - before Xiu crouches down and turns a bit, lifting the tail just a bit with her two left hands - and does so rather easily, perhaps to Wulfra's surprise - before she takes a good peek. "Let's see now, shall we? Time to tell you what you *are*..."
The 'fur' flickers over Xiu's digits im defiance of gravity, softer than the most thin and svelte furs or fabrics could ever be. Wulfra's head turns to look at the witch as she moves towards the rear. They don't seem to mind whatever Xiu's doing. Underneath, the scales are longer, more rectangular, along the belly and over the tail. There's a pointed bump towards the undercarriage like you might see on a theropod... but there's no visible genitalia, only those dark smoky grey scales and the blackness between them, like everywhere else. `...he did this too.`
"...huh." Xiu says, tilting her head a bit. "...I guess you are...neither." she says, before she reaches out and brushes a hand over that plain groin. Before the hand holds still and she leans sideways, trying to catch sight of Wulfra's head. "Who did?" she wonders, given that she does not know who this 'he' is.
`The Mage. First thinking being I ever met... few venture where my 'home' is. Taught me most of what I know.` They say, several eyes glancing to the side at Xiu. When they speak, their opened mouth reveals their tongue and gums have a fiery orange appearance behind their fangs. Even if there's nothing much there beyond 'ordinary' scales, Xiu can most likely tell Wulfra seems to enjoy the touches regardless, subtly leaning into them.
"Aaah, I see." Xiu says, as she considers that for a moment. A light frown then moves her expression. "Where were you then? I mean..." She tilts her head. "You must have done things before that. Even if it was just growing." she muses, before she peeks under that tail again..and just continues to brush those scales gently, before she peeks back at Wulfra. Hey, if the dragon...thing enjoys touch there, she might as well. "Or did you just become...aware at some sudden moment?" A free hand waves dismissively. "I am just guessing at this point, really."
`I did, yes. I hid. I devoured what I could. I fought.` Wulfra says, then glancing away. `I can see. Many things. Many years... many visions. Everything is connected... I just had no good to compare it to.` Then... they let out a long, rumbling noise. Must be the closest thing to a sigh. Rather than answer the question of where, they glance around at the watching glade children. `They do not like me. The spiders don't either. They see me as being of Destruction.`
Xiu Xiu nods, lightly. "Yes, I noticed." she remarks and lightly shrugs. "You are a big predator, probably. Prey is usually scared of that." To her, it is as simple as that, really. The hand continues to brush a bit more, with spread fingers, before she finally pulls the arm away from those scales, and slowly lets the tail drop before she lightly pats it. "Your life seems a bit more peaceful now." she remarks and gazes up at the, on this side, absurdly tall and thick trees. "...it is just a shame that the world is not ready yet to accept your true shape. One day."
`Yes... they do. They are not very tasty, though... the ones that often cling to people are my preferred. Spicy, sharp, squelching...` they say, trailing off into a low rumble. `It is very, very different... but some things do not change.` Once the tail is released, they step forwards, glancing up. `I am making myself hungry... I need a snack, and I doubt it's the same you enjoy. We will find each other again later....`
Xiu rises onto her feet proper - as strange as those feet might be right now - and nods, one pair of arms bringing their hands to her hips, the other crossing, one raised to cup her own chin a bit. She smiles. "I will see you soon, Wulfra. For now I should head back, myself.." she says, before she turns and mkaes her way back towards the pond. This time she actually gets down on all fours at its edge, and begins to chant again, eyes closed. It is a bit faster this time, not taking as long...before she actually crawls into the water instead of letting herself drop - to finally after a long time underwater, crawl out of the pond on the other side....
