yes I knew it was no moonshine, it is real

[faceblocks]

Who: vi and various people
What: a catchall for october feat. vileblood anxiety things, animal shenanigans, facepainting things, non-event things. starters will be in the comments. ping me at eisdamme or eisdamme#7495 if you would like one.
When: throughout the month of october
Where: the rookery kitchen, ursulas, cellar door, willful machine, the outpost, the entertainment feed, other places.

Content Warnings: tba

Comments

[opheliac]

(she watches the batcat from the couch; letting her observe everything and making sure everything is clear from whatever. and with the window shut, it puts her a little more at cease but the silence is still too thick. by this time, she reaches over her omni when vi returns back on her stomach.)

Thanks. (jinx chuckles sheepishly as she stammers over her words.) Music. I-I, heh, I just need some music. That's all. I'll be fine, then.

(fiddling with her omni with nervous fingers, she finds this and seems satisfied with it. exhaling a breath, she sets the device down with her eyes shut -- trying to relax while stroking her kitty sister's back.)

[faceblocks]

[vi only settles in, leaning in to the petting, until a low, steady purr emanates from her - she's a bit of a weighted blanket with added heat vibration. not bad for a trench curse.

well, what do you know ...this seems to work just fine for anxiety filtered through a batcat, as well as it might work for anyone else. she'll fall asleep if jinx calms enough.]

[opheliac]

(for a little while, she doesn't say much. her fingers brush along her sister's fur with her eyes shut -- taking in the music and to breath in sync with hers. but jinx does speak after a moment even if her sister is already asleep. it's fine if she is because she is just talking out loud:)

I wonder if I'll get friends here. ... It'd be nice to have someone over sometimes. I like havin' you over but I know you get busy. So.

(a beat.)

— Who am I kidding? No one is gonna like me. 'Least that's what Mylo says.

(again, she is forgetting this cat is actually her sister in animal form. and she is also forgetting she can understand her, too. which means, she just out herself one of her voices is mylo. jinx huffs a tiny breath as she mocks the way he talks.)

"Like you? You can't even talk to people like everyone else. Anoooother book in the shelf in the library." Teh, stupid.

[faceblocks]

[vi purrs, resting but not quite sleeping, and though she doesn't open her eyes, one ear tilts at the question of friends. she understands. and there's not much comfort she can offer as a cat, other than what she's doing. so she remains still.

and then jinx says that. it's the way she says it, so casually, as if mylo is still here, as if he's saying not. not that's what mylo said, but that's what mylo says. try as she might, she cannot stop her fur from poofing, her tail suddenly more raccoon than cat even though she's tucked it mostly under - there's a pouf of fur right above her butt that would give it away if seen.

and then jinx quotes him, mocks him. it's word for word something he would say, something he'd said.

oh, her little cat heart just stills - it's as if someone's squeezing it, and though she pretends to be asleep, puffed fur and all, she lets out a sad little mrow and burrows closer to her sister, stretching out her head to nuzzle, eyes closed. it's all she can do.]

[opheliac]

(she blinks down at the cat; hand ceasing for a second when the fur poofs. but then she returns to stroking to soothe it.)

Hey, don't be upset, kitty. I'm use to him sayin' stuff like that. It's normal.

(it seems she forgot the true identity of the batcat again. with a big inhale and exhale, her fingers gingerly move to the top of vi's head to give scratches.)

... He's exhaustin', though. They all are. Sometimes I don't really have any room to think for myself. And every time I tell 'em to shut up, they just... don't listen.

[faceblocks]

[it isn't a stretch to see why mylo might be exhausting. for vi, his complaining was background chatter, something she never took personally, but how could she when he looked up to her? yes, she was around to shut him down when she heard him rag powder too hard, but when she wasn't around? even though his jibes were meant more kindly than they landed, they were never kind. had he the benefit of living long enough to reach her own age he might have regretted a good bit of it. but he hadn't, and he's frozen at his immature best, apparently - she can only imagine the kind of things jinx hears him say. it's the worst of the worst, probably - because that's what the mind does so much of the time.

it shouldn't be normal. because it's not true, it doesn't have to be true, and it's a whole lot of bullshit.

the cat huffs, a distinctly human sound.

they all are.

as much as she doesn't want to think of it, she remembers their meeting on the boardwalk - how easily jinx had treated her as if she were a hallucination. she's there, too.

you never left me. i always heard you. shadows on the streets, prickles on the back of my neck. your voice. pushing me. picking me up when all the colors were black. you're the reason i'm still alive.

but at what cost?

she'd give anything to make them listen, even just a little. she'd have words with them if she could.

but she can only give comfort, and trills, purrs.]

[opheliac]

But it's okay. I'll be alright. It's just... one of those things, y'know?

(looking down at her sister cat, she carefully scoops her up so she is sitting on her hind legs. from there, she carefully maneuvers vi around like she is dancing along to the very soothing beats of the song.)

You wanna spend the night with me tonight? I got a lotta extra room in my bed for you.

[faceblocks]

[she'd like to think she knows.

vi will let herself be puppeted to the music - if this will give the tiniest fraction of comfort to her sister, she's in. besides, a cat is a liquid and a solid, so it's easy to move her to the beat, and she'll lean into it, too, bobbing her head and looking at jinx with slightly less anxious blue eyes.

she nods yes to the question, adding a little meow for emphasis, wings flapping lightly.]

[opheliac]

Hehe, awesome! (she lets go of the cat from it's force dancing and lets her sister sit there on her stomach. it comes to her then that, oh right. this batcat is vi. it's a pain how her mind just forgets sometimes.) — Y'know back home what I tried to do once? I tried to sneak into the academy to kidnap one of the professor's poro. They're just soooo cute!!

— I've always wondered where he got him. Definitely not in Zaun and I've never saw them in Piltover, either. Maybe somewhere else in Runeterra?

(a beat.)

... Too bad we've never gotten the chance to see what else was out there besides the two cities, huh?

[faceblocks]

[kidnapping a professor? bad. kidnapping their poro? okay, not great but understandable! they are that cute. they're the opposite of a punchable face. so, a mew of agreement, here.

probably somewhere else, yeah. how much of somewhere else was there? this cat is now imagining the following scene:

just the two of them, growing up on an airship, traveling wherever it might take them. wait, no, they're pirates! mostly friendly pirates, but they've gotta make a living. and somehow they have a poro.]