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

[faceblocks]

Vi doesn't get the reference (she will look this up later) - but no matter what kind of face she tries to make, confused or relieved - it all just comes out looking like resting Nightmare Steed face. She snorts when she sees him, though she'd meant for it to be a sigh.

Her eyes go wide when he removes the teapot's lid, and she stills herself, aside from the constantly flicking tail, taking a possibly ridiculous looking deep breath and slowly approaching to sniff.

Apparently you can lead a nightmare steed to a teapot, and it will drink all on its own, albeit clumsily and a not without noise.

[martyrofduty]

Duty, the reigning expert on resting neutral face, watches the steed carefully. He pulls out his own thermos and joins the nightmare steed in drinking. Not everyone has the kind of relationship with their omen to permit communication when other options are... nonexistent. Vi's relationship with her omen isn't something he's cognizant of, but it's either off the table or not thought of. Hard having that pointed out when failing to communicate.

He checks out her equine shape. "You're really into nightmares," Duty comments. Vi chose to wear a mask or face paint. Something. He's also seen her efforts toward them and the success toward befriending one of her own. That's real commitment, even if she didn't mean to be this committed.

[faceblocks]

Oh, Fang's around, just not available for this particular side quest, though if Vi could think through the could of anxiety she is clearly not prepared for (at least not on top of this new development) she would find her Omen useful ...and smugly amused.

Caffeine and nerves are possibly not the best combination, but that's fallout that will be dealt with on her next stop. (The Entertainment Feed: best place for a caffeinated horse!) Just now, the sounds of her own sloppy drinking are re-imagined as a babbling brook, a trickling flow of steady, calm, chill water.

Her concentration on that scene is so strong that she manages to undo it by stopping the act of drinking, and startling herself back into it.

She did not mean to be this committed, that's for sure. And though she's pretty self conscious about that herd, they're more concerned and vaguely curious than they are unnerved. But she has not yet learned to read them and the more anxious she gets the worse she is at it. She nods at him slowly, tail flicking. And then nods again, even slower and more pronounced, lest it be mistaken for anxious horse head tossing.

She knows Duty. She's covered him with a blanket when half the Outpost was napping. They've drank coffee in comfortable silence and even some words (mostly Vi's, but that's fine). They've drank tea in much the same circumstances, but this is not the most comfortable silence. It could be much less comfortable, though.

[martyrofduty]

Nightmares are a magical creature, more intelligent than the average horse. They also exist in Trench, unlike (so far as Duty knows) gryphons. For that reason or another, he could still communicate in that form earlier in the month. Vi cannot. It cannot be harder than a Resurrection Beast.

Yes and no questions might be slow and limited, but they're simpler and direct. "One, can you understand the nightmares?" Duty asks, "Two, can they understand you?"

There's more than idle curiosity to his questions, but he's as calm as ever. Concerned but not worried.

[faceblocks]

Simple, direct questions are good. They're especially good in this situatio, but her answers are a little more complicated. Duty's almost always direct, but not so much because he's simple. It's more the opposite, she suspects. Still waters and all that. So maybe her answers won't be a total bust - he's proven really good at reading people, and gauging what they're capable of.

And that's probably why he's in charge, here.

Okay. So first question: can she understand them? Kind of? Their expressions are less frightening to her, but she hasn't picked up on nuance. So she pauses - there's the start of a nod, but then it's a bit of a shrug as she tries to raise her horse shoulders and tilt her head to one side. What's horse for "I'm not sure?"

Second question? The same answer, only slightly less of a shrug. Wojciech had seemed to understand something. He'd sniffed at her, made a noise that was only mildly horrifying, and then he'd offered her a carcass. He stared for a long time when she refused it, and then directed his sounds at the herd. So ...he understood something.

She tries a bit of speech, inwardly rolling her eyes at herself, "Am I making any sense, here? Or is this sounding like angry horse noises?"

[martyrofduty]

He watches carefully in return. As she wants tea, Vi has not gone full nightmare. Neither can she communicate the ways she is used to. Human body language mapped onto a horse body, that's what he expects. That makes for one odd looking odd looking horse.

Duty nods. He tilts one raised hand back and forth a couple times. "More or less," Duty declares. More or less, Vi understands something of the other nightmares. More or less, the others understood her. More or less, Duty understands the vibe Vi gives off, if not the specifics.

"Would you like Snow's help?" Duty asks. He doesn't feel the need, but he's not the one transformed in the moment. Even if Vi doesn't need it this moment, she may want the help later on. This will last three days after all.

[faceblocks]

He's very good at 'picking up what she's putting down', as Lance might say. She's still much better at reading human body language, even with these nerves running full force (full horse? nay.)

That gesture? That's exactly what she'd wanted to convey. It's hard to do in her state, but being understood is a bit of a balm.

She tilts her head, the universal 'bwuh?' gesture (also looks ridiculous on a horse), but she thinks on it. Snow could tell the herd exactly what had happened. Hell, she could even sort out the business with the corpses if need be. She can only refuse fresh carcass so many times before Wojciech possibly takes offense - maybe he already had.

Oh, no. She looks more nervous now, and she can neither control tail nor ears.

[martyrofduty]

As confusing as being a horse may be—he was a gryphon after all—his question hardly feels out of the blue given Snow helped Vi on horse related matters before. It's an easy connection to make, but Vi the horse is confused and awkward and uncertain. Some of that might be horse. Some of that might be—

No matter.

"You are okay," Duty declares to the horse with the calm confidence of a man who has often gotten his way, who has told comrades how things will go and had them believe him (and delivered upon those words). Honestly, it's not in the top hundred weirdest experiences of his life.

He raises one hand steadily and gently brushes her face. "You are okay," he repeats in low steady timber.

[faceblocks]

Of all the things she might have expected, this isn't one of them. She's usually on the other side of this.

Hearing the words from someone else when she's frazzled to the bone is enough to strike her speechless. Quieted, the horse leans in to the touch, turning her head so her horn isn't in the way, huffing out a breath that's really just a sigh of relief. Her eyes blink away the human impulse of tears.

It's not just hearing the words, it's that steadiness that it is - that she will be and that she could even be now. Okay. In this moment. She can't recall the last time an adult had said this to her---

---oh, wait she can. That's a memory she hadn't expected to dredge up, either. But it's okay, too.

[martyrofduty]

His voice becomes a simple soft murmur, rather than words. The sentiment is the same. Knowing where she is and what has happened, Duty can handle this latest unusual happening to his crew. He continues until he senses she truly is okay, at least for now.

"I'll leave word here, at Sanctuary, and at Achellion," Duty says, "You get their attention, they'll get mine." Whenever Vi needs it. It's hard being something else.