[ OPEN/SOME CLOSED ] if I had to do it over, I'd do it all again

[cointosser]

Who: Jaskier, Ciri, Geralt, Yennefer, Alucard, and some open prompts
When: Mid-to-Late January
Where: Cadens and the Horizon
What: Jaskier wakes from a vivid, nasty dream to physical evidence that it was unfortunately very real. He spirals, but like, only a little bit. It mostly involves getting drunk and buying hats to cope.
Warnings: Mentions of bodily injury/torture, maybe PTSD, heavy drinking



[Will be throwing starters (including open ones) down below! You can hit me up at scathefire or #scathefire6612 if you'd like to plot anything or want an additional starter. Also, let me know if you'd like me to avoid S2 spoilers, because there will be a lot.]

Comments

[nadine_he_loves]

[It takes a few moments to orient herself. The last time, she hadn't had a chance to do much of anything, even sort out her four legged body. Now there's time.

She can only bob her head in a nod to Jaskier's question. Nadine supposes there's nothing stopping her from giving herself the ability of speech in the Horizon, but she won't have it in the real world. This form doesn't have the right vocal cords or mouth shape.

Her footing is unsteady and that's obvious as she tentatively tries to take a step, slender furry legs wobbling and threatening to slide out at all angles. Never mind that for now. She sits, instead, the strange new motions and shifting of muscles and limbs alien and strange. But it doesn't hurt. It just feels horribly wrong and quite right at the same time. She glances over her shoulder at her tail, experimentally trying to move it. It awkwardly thumps up and down and again she decides to not try that right now.

At least this is surely cutting down the intimidation factor wolves naturally carry with them. She may be a predatory animal, but obviously not a very good one yet. She looks back to Jaskier, head tipped to the side, wondering idly what sort of range of facial movements wolves have...]

[cointosser]

[At least there's no scared thump in his heart this time. She is intimidating, even if she's the wolf equivalent of a newborn deer on spindly, shaky legs. Nothing like Alucard, then. Not the transformation, and not the way she moves. The difference in one who could do it for a lifetime to a woman who's only just been granted the power.

Though "granted" may be too complimentary, given her unease about it.]

I'm sure there's a bit of a learning curve.

[But at least she isn't in pain. He can't help himself; he reaches out to brush his fingers in the fur under her head. Look. Wolves are adorable, as far as animals that can kill him quite easily go. Wolves and bears.] You know, it doesn't seem so bad now I think of it. Letting go of being human every now and then.

[The Horizon offers every possibility. But this is one he has yet to touch.] And if anyone ever gives you lip again, you can bite their hands off.

[That's mostly a joke.]

[nadine_he_loves]

[Without thinking, Nadine tries to laugh. It comes out a strange, canine chuffing sound instead. It startles her, eyes going wide. She did that. She made that noise.

This is so strange. Learning curve indeed. She tries to think about how dogs move, and she can't quite seem to recall. It's not like she's ever spent much time just watching dogs move.

Also, this lack of speech is too much of a pain in the ass. She'll get used to that part later. A moment of thought and she thinks she has it sorted out.]

Okay, I can't do the not talking thing.

[And that's odd, too, because despite her mouth opening and closing, she's not exactly talking. But the words are coming out clear and she's in no mood to try and figure out the mechanics of Horizon shapeshifting.]

This is just...practice, and I don't feel like playing Clever Hans the Wonder Horse right now.

[She'll just do the talking animal thing, like something out of a children's movie. But Jaskier has a point. This ability is one that can be utilized for protection. Clearly, considering the circumstances of the first time she changed. Not that she's mastered it yet, but she'll figure it out. It's just like anything else.

And it doesn't seem quite so scary, this time.]

...the petting was nice, by the way.

[cointosser]

[He startles. A little. Not her fault; with Alucard, he simply doesn't expect talking animals anymore.]

Oh. That's new.

[No, she isn't really talking. But her jaws open (flashing sharp teeth) and he hears her voice as he knows it, intimately in some ways. Not like it's in his head, like a mage's, but simply as if it is crafting itself in the air. It feels much more natural that way, somehow.

And really. A wolf who can speak is far from one of the strangest things he's encountered. She looks far better than the hedgehog knight, for one. If one must be cursed to be an animal at all.

He smiles.] Ah. Liked that, did you? Should I give you a belly rub? [Is he... slowly slipping towards a baby voice? No. Absolutely not. His weakness is not soft, adorable animals, thank you. But he does pet over her chest again, stroking thick fur.

Abruptly, it makes him miss the wolf he'd once had here. In the Horizon. When he'd traveled alone, but... never been alone, really.] You feel just like him. The first time I came here, when I couldn't recall anything, there was a white wolf with me. For protection, I suppose. I've always been a bit fond of them, now I think of it.

[In no uncertain terms, white wolves have been a large part of his life. And apparently the pattern continues.]

[nadine_he_loves]

Yeah, that'd tip this all over into too weird.

[Nadine shakes her head, marveling at how different it feels. The way her muscles move, the little bit of breeze on her ears from the motion. Nothing is where it ought to be, and it's going to take a while to get used to that.

Even the way Jaskier's hand moves through her fur. Even having fur!]

Really? It's funny, what our minds come up with when they're left on their own. Obviously there's some meaning for you there.

[It makes a sort of sense. Wolves have all kinds of connotations, and among them are mystic and protective ones. And obviously there are more direct comparisons, for Jaskier. Yeah. It makes sense. Strange, how things work out.

He does seem in a much better mood, though. That's something.]

Are there a lot of folk stories and fairy tales about wolves, where you come from? There's a whole bunch in mine.

[cointosser]

I believe we've already broached that.

[If you ask him. She's a wolf, and talking, and he's still petting her, regardless. (But she's right. He isn't thinking of much else but the strange excitement in seeing such a bizarre transformation.

In the nostalgia found in the feel of fur.)]

Oh, yes. More than one can count. And there's about the same amount of stories meant to warn against them. Plenty of new mothers have lost their children to hungry wolves. They're particularly vicious if there's a warg around. [He sits on the ground, as easy as if it's natural to be on a dirty tavern floor. (His is rather clean, actually.)] I have a few songs of my own about them, too. I imagine any storyteller half his salt has at least one.

[nadine_he_loves]

You're probably right.

[This evening has gone weird. Not bad, but definitely weird. It's fine, the desired end is being achieved. Nadine isn't thinking about how screwed up her life is, and Jaskier isn't drinking himself into a state of oblivion.]

That sounds about right. Most of the old fairy tales have wolves as the bad guy. If you believe those, wolves pretty much don't do anything aside from lay in wait for poor humans to savage and eat. Or sometimes dress up like grandmas.

[A laugh follows that. Little Red Riding Hood had never made much sense to Nadine - how could anyone think a wolf was a little old lady? But it gives her an idea - Jaskier does like stories.]

There's even a real story about a giant wolf that menaced a town for years. There were historic records and everything. The beast of Gevaudan. Some people claimed it was a monster and not a wolf at all, it just looked like one. They say it killed over a hundred people and no one knows if it was ever stopped or if it just went somewhere else to hunt.

[cointosser]

Er. Grandmothers...?

[You know what, it's no stranger than the fat, weird magic man. He's sort of just accepting the local tales from others at this point. None make more sense than others. Nothing says wolves can't dress like old women, he supposes.

He means to add on there are plenty of stories where wolves are noble. Mostly written by yours truly, of course, if only because his specialty is metaphors that are a bit too on the nose.

However, her story intrigues him -- this one, at least, not the grandmother one.] A giant wolf, you say...

[Is he contemplating it? Yes. A little. What better would protect his tavern? (Not that he has anything to fear. Here. In the Horizon.) And he does miss the wolf that had once traveled with him.

Besides, her story hits a rather poignant note. Wolves bringing about destruction and death? Killing loads of people? Ah, he's never heard that before.] Mm. I wonder. People say plenty of things about the things they fear. Beasts and people alike. Besides, outside of the very mangy and desperate wolves, I find it hard to fear any beast with such soft paws.

[He's gotta squish a bean. At least one.]

[nadine_he_loves]

That's what they say. A lot of it's probably exaggerated, and it probably wasn't even a wolf at all. But it's a good story anyway.

[In part for the reason Jaskier just alluded to - wolves were dangerous, but not exactly in the habit of randomly attacking people and not eating them. Not unless they were starving and desperate. And then they actually ate what they went after.

Lacking hands, Nadine butts her head gently against his arm, starting to settle into this shape. How it moves, what muscles do what. It's beginning to feel more comfortable.

Of course Jaskier's helping with that, also.]

And some say the Beast wasn't even a natural animal, and it still lurks in the dark woods of France, waiting for innocent young maidens to wander by...