☀️ summer catchall

[hearthwarming]

🌼 who: Oriphi & others
🌼 what: open prompts & catchall
🌼 when: second half of Summer
🌼 where: various
🌼 warnings: will add as needed!

i. after the hurricane

[ When the skies clear and the sun comes back out after the hurricane passes, Ori does her best to visit every. single. farm. She had spent most of that time inside making sure her and M-21's farm was weathering the storm well enough, and then most of the rainy day following... baking cookies. Many, many cookies.

Which she is now showing up at your doorstep with, rapping upon the door politely. ]

Hello there! I just wanted to check on everyone! Do you need help clearing your farm? Or if you got hurt during the storm, I can heal... Oh! And I have cookies.

ii. funny forest furries

[ On some of the other sunny summer days, Ori will make her way into the woods surrounding the forest farms to practice her magic and figure out what's going on with her shapeshifting ability.

Which is really to say... Anyone exploring or foraging in the woods may find themself running into a rather peculiar sight: choose your fighter between a bear with webbed platypus feet and a platypus face, a rabbit with mouse ears and horns, or a parrot-colored giant owl... ]

iii. double trouble ( aka 'you split into two identical copies of yourself for a day' babey)

[ Did you just see Ori somewhere in town, perhaps delivering flowers during the daytime or hanging around the tavern during the evenings?

Well, now you're seeing her again, somewhere else, even though it seems impossible for her to be in two places at once... unless...?

Anyhow, any prolonged staring will spur the tiefling to approach. ]

Is everything okay? You look like you've just seen something interesting!

iv. wildcard
( feel free to toss something else in! we can hash things out at my plotting comment if you're feeling something else! )

Comments

[hearthwarming]

[ She doesn't need him to be particularly comforting... He only needs to be himself. How are they supposed to be a team together if they can't work with each other's shortcomings?

Her hand lifts and rests against his hand on her shoulder and, with a small, thankful smile, she nods. ]

Right. And I know she'll be able to come into her own in time, too. Her spirit is incredibly strong.

[ She squeezes at his hand. ]

That goes for you, too, M-21. I hope you'll let me help you find yourself again, here. Though...

[ It's her turn to wonder if she should ask a question or not. ]

How did you... Get out of your situation? The lab... Is it okay that I ask?

[feralheart]

[ M-21 gives a little nod of agreement, squeezing her shoulder lightly in acknowledgment when her hand tightens on his. She says her sister is strong. But he can't help thinking that she's resilient in her own way, to be able to take that on faith. ]

It's fine. It's not exactly a secret.

[ And they're teammates. Although... it's not exactly the most flattering story, either, if he tells it straight. He pauses a moment to reorder his thoughts. ]

...By the time we were ready to try for an escape, there were only two of us left. Most of the others— the experiments didn't go well. They were either killed on missions, or in testing, or their bodies started breaking down. My partner still needed the medicine the lab made to keep him alive, so... we stayed until we could be sure we could steal enough.

[ And did whatever they were told to do. He thinks of what drove Ori from the Fangs and glances away. ]

They put us on a weird mission. Recovering some coffin that had been stolen from them. They didn't tell us that what was in that coffin was a vampire. Not one like whatever straggler they'd been able to pick up to use for the experiments on us, either. I've never seen anyone that strong. Maybe not even the goddess, here.

[hearthwarming]

[ Patience is all she can offer as she waits for him to sort out his thoughts, knowing full well that it's never easy to recount these things. It's hard enough to talk about these things even with someone from the same world, but they're both from such vastly different worlds, it feels like...

Though perhaps not too different. Werewolves, vampires, people with unimaginable power, entities that do unspeakable things to people in the pursuit of power... They may not have teevees, or phones, or the other things that M-21 is used to, but... Strangely, she's not too befuddled by what he tells her.

Yet still, it breaks her heart to hear. She wonders if he's still suffering from the effects of what's been done to him; he's said that it's under control now, but... She would have noticed by now if he was suffering physically, right? Would she be able to help? ]

M, if... If at any point you feel unwell, please... Please, tell me. I can't guarantee that my magic will be able to help with any effects of the experiments, but... I can try. I want to try.

[ A beat, then she continues, ]

So you found the vampire, then...? What happened when you did?

i-i lost this notif im so sorry

[hearthwarming]

[ She hums contemplatively. ]

It's honestly... A little bit of both? I didn't learn how to harness my magic until later, but I learned that I'd always had a bit of an... Affinity for druidic magic, it turns out.

What about yours...? Your ability?

[graftage]

Affinity? I guess there's different types, huh?

[A little hum.]

Ability users are born that. But a lot of people don't manifest them until later in life. And what you get is what you get.

[hearthwarming]

Ahh... Yes. My magic comes from my connection with nature, which I suppose I've always had since I was little, but I didn't know how to draw on it to make magic until later on. But my sister - she was born with magic in her veins. Others learn magic through scholarly study, or make deals with patrons...

[ So! Many different types. ]

When did yours manifest? Ah, is it okay that I'm asking these questions?

[graftage]

That's real interesting. Its kind of a little strange to me. Not like there's ability schools where I come from.

[A pause.]

Ah, well, when I was young? Not recently. And its fine. I'm an anomaly even at home, so I get people being curious.

[hearthwarming]

An anomaly...? How come?

[ her tail flicks behind her. ]

It's probably not the same, but some people think the same of tieflings like me.

[graftage]

Because ability users are the stuff of legends. Like, we're super secret. The stuff of shady groups and conspiracies and all that. And then mine is...weird, even so. Not like I could go around just growing grapes and not have people look twice.

[A little blink of surprise.]

Really? A wonderful lady like you? How?

[hearthwarming]

Oh...

[ Her world is just full of people who have all sorts of things going on, and Ori in particular tends to run within circles that attract such people, so it hadn't occurred to her what it might be like otherwise. ]

I understand. So special abilities like that are really very rare... Ah, as for me, um... Tieflings are a cursed people, some say. We look like this because of an infernal bloodline that happened because of ancient pact with... um. A lord of the hells.

[ She is literally... hellspawn. But the nicest one anyone would ever meet, probably. ]

[graftage]

Infernal?

[He stares at her like she has grown a second head in Lisa Frank style. Okay, sure, maybe she's demonic, but...]

You?! That's ridiculous. You don't look cursed

[hearthwarming]

[ WELL... up until a little bit ago she had a literal second head in the form of an entirely second version of herself so-- ]

Some people feel differently! There are places where tieflings aren't as common...

[ fantasy racism amirite ]

All it really means is that I have these horns and a tail. Though appearances can be very different amongst tieflings, too... Just like with humans or elves or dwarves!

[feralheart]

[ His reflex is to tell her not to worry about it. His healing took care of the degeneration as quickly as it could happen. But even if they haven't been teammates for that long, he gets the impression that she isn't the type to stop being concerned over something just because someone says so. ]

I'll tell you. But it shouldn't happen anymore. My body accepted the werewolf heart, so...

[ Well, he's already telling this. So he may as well try to get things in the proper order. ]

That's because of that vampire. Rai. The whole mission went sideways, brought way too much attention down on us. I was thinking that if he made enough of a distraction we could still get away in the mess. But we got some kids he knew dragged into it, and M-24... he'd always been soft on kids. [ He hesitates again, then shakes his head sharply. ] Anyway, the smart thing for Rai to do would've been to get rid of me or turn me loose. But they said I should stay if I wanted. Gave me a job and let me live there. Did something to my blood that made the heart part of me. ...I owe them a lot.

[hearthwarming]

[ He has the correct impression.

Ori listens dutifully, of course, the concern that had already been plainly visible on her face only deepening further when she hears about kids getting caught in the crossfire, only to soften the slightest with relief at the resolution. ]

...They must have seen that you're worth keeping around.

[ They haven't been teammates for that long, but... She can agree with Rai on that. ]

[feralheart]

They're...

[ He lets out a quiet sigh of frustration. Wouldn't that have been the easier answer? A tool worth keeping? It's the only framework that it occurs to him to take her words in. ]

I thought they were trying to use me at first. To get information about the Union, or just as some expendable muscle. But they don't even need me for any of that. [ And with a little disgruntled pause, the backstory reveal of all time: ] Frankenstein makes me do the dishes.

[ Truly what he's worth keeping around for. He gives his head a small shake. Anyway... it all worked out, clearly. ]

[hearthwarming]

[ As a tool isn't what she'd meant by it at all - but she doesn't realize how his mind would interpret her words until he continues on. Of course he would assume they needed him as a tool, when that's all the Union wanted him to be... ]

Well... You are really good at doing the dishes... But maybe they just wanted you to be able to have a different kind of life that way, hm?

[ Though, judging from what she can vaguely remember them talking about while she was drunk and he was carrying her home... Maybe it wasn't quite so peaceful then, too. Why would Rai need Knights if not for some trouble brewing? ]

So that's how you became a... knight...?

[feralheart]

[ It's a little funny to hear from Ori, who's never met Rai or Frankenstein. But her understanding of them is probably closer than he'd managed in those early days. Maybe not a surprise. That kindness gives her more in common with Rai than she has with him. ]

That's just Tao's joke. ...He's another guy from the Union, like me. His experiment wasn't a failure, but...

[ He's going to push Tao down the stairs for the knight misunderstanding when he gets home. He sinks a little down with a quiet grumble and waves a hand. She can probably infer easily enough that Rai took in more strays than just him. ]

Anyway, we take care of things when Rai's busy sometimes. That's all.