[004] Let me be your everlasting light

[themuseabandonsyou]

Who: Orpheus (themuseabandonsyou)
What: February Catch-all
When: Throughout February
Where: Earworm, Willful Machine, Cellar Door

Warnings: Potential mild sexual/suggestive content, mild body horror (partial beasthood), giant worm/slug being, background use of drugs/alcohol, discussion of NPC death (trampling), mild blood, transformative magical effects


I. Your sun when there is none
( cw: Potential mild sexual/suggestive content, mild body horror (partial beasthood), giant worm/slug being, background use of drugs/alcohol ) ( closed to Vyng and Eurydice )

The descent into Earworm from the aboveground entrance is... a little nervewracking! As a rule Orpheus tries to stay away from being underground whenever possible these days, but he guesses if Lady Bop really wanted to build her club miles deep that's sort of her prerogative? It's a sacrifice he's willing to make for the sake of trying to figure out how to make life her a little safer, at least, though as he, Vyng, and Eurydice descend he seems deeply torn at all times between wanting to glance at his wife to check on her and very much not wanting to do that. It's fine, he knows, but years of nightmares about being in the dark of the underground with her have taken their toll.

In any case, when they do finally make it there - sooner than Orpheus expected but also not nearly soon enough - and the doors to the great cavernous expanse of the club itself swing open, they're met with a veritable wall of noise. Orpheus flinches away from it, but somehow it seems to adjust down to more manageable levels, fading gently until it's a more tolerable sort of loud. Glancing around, he tries to take in as much of it as he can at a first look. It's a little hard to pay attention to much else other than the gigantic, sluglike being from which all the music seems to be emanating, though, and Orpheus stares for a long moment before trying to get the rest of his bearings. The club isn't as busy as it could be, but there's still quite a few citizens dancing and sitting in booths and at the bar for this early in the day, being served by similarly sluggy people carrying trays of drinks and bar food. The doorways lining the back wall are what catch his attention, though, posters and signs portraying people in various states of beasthood posing suggestively and winking or blowing kisses at the viewer.

He looks to Eurydice and Vyng. "Let's split up?" he says, loud enough to be heard over the throbbing percussion of Lady Bop's current song. "We'll meet up later and talk about what we find."

And with that, absolutely failing to elaborate on what he means by 'later,' he makes his way off in the direction of the stage, disappearing into the crowd. About an hour passes before he bumps into either Vyng or Eurydice again.

"I couldn't get an audience with Lady Bop?" he says, pulling them aside. "But I did talk to a few of the dancers! Oh, but what did you find?"

(There is, of course, also nothing stopping them from reconvening before Orpheus turns up again.)

II. I'm a shepherd for you
( closed to Manabu )

Orpheus does a fair amount of wandering, most days. He doesn't tend to work until afternoon and evening, entertaining at various cafes and bars in Cellar Door, but he's always been an early riser, so that tends to leave his mornings fairly open once he gets done with his chores around the house. To his credit, he has been much more careful about where he wanders recently, sticking to crowded-but-not-too-crowded thoroughfares and keeping Eurydice updated on his location via the Omni regularly, and is just taking a blurry photograph of an interesting looking storefront in Willful Machine for her when he nearly bumps into Manabu.

"Oh!" he says, backing up and fumbling with the Omni so as not to drop it before stuffing it back into his pocket. "Hi, Manabu! It's nice to see you again."

Sidestepping to get out of the way of the foot traffic and gesturing for the other man to follow, he beams, obviously pleased to see his friend again.

"What have you been up to recently? It's been a little while, hasn't it?"

III. And I'll guide you through
( cw: discussion of NPC death (trampling) ) ( OTA )

Another day means yet more wandering, and is proving to be mostly uneventful and sort of dreary to the point where Orpheus is considering turning around and going back home for risk of rain, right up until he spots them.

By all appearances, they're just a random Trenchie, all dressed in black frills and silver accents, but Orpheus stops dead in his tracks when he sees them, eyes flickering with a faint glow like an animal's eyes in the dark. They don't notice him staring at first, but it's hard to ignore when he darts across the street - forcing a horse-drawn carriage to stop short and takes them by the shoulders. The world around him seems to grow dimmer, shades of night drawing in and more reflective, subtle pinpoints of light like distant bestial eyes appear around him in pairs, all focused on the poor confused citizen as he begins to sing, almost frantically.

"In the mud and under hoof
Is where the bitter end will come
Try to tame them but they'll prove
More than your your efforts' greatest sum

The herd knows you are watching
The herd knows your intent
The herd has been so patient
But the last of it is spent

In the blood and under hoof
Is where the bitter end will come
The stallion that gets loose
Will end your days under the sun"

The Trenchie looks, rightfully, absolutely terrified by all this. Maybe someone should intervene.

IV. Let me be your everlasting light
( cw: mild blood, transformative magical effects ) ( OTA )

Ordinarily even Orpheus would be sort of wary about the notion of taking candy from eldritch strangers in exchange for his blood - he's trusting, but he's not that bad - but there is not anything remotely ordinary about the Chocolatier. As it stands, he winds up with a very small box of chocolates, and less blood in him than before, which he does feel a little bit worried about now that the strange figure is gone, actually, but there's no turning back now, he guesses? Curious and also feeling a little woozy after all of that, he considers one carefully before nibbling at it, intending to savor it like he tries to do with all sweets.

It's gone before he knows it, though, and with it comes an odd prickling sensation all over his skin. He looks down at his hands, watching as his fingernails elongate and thicken into hooked talons and the skin of his hands and forearms grow leathery and scaly. Feathers start to unfurl from his skin, along his upper arms and chest and cheekbones, and he feels a sudden pressure at his back growing stronger by the second - prompting him to hurriedly strip out of his jacket and shirt before a pair of large brown wings unfurl from his shoulders. He blinks, startled, before starting to laugh.

"Oh! It's this again," he says to himself, kicking off his shoes so as to avoid them being destroyed by more talons coming in. He seems in good spirits about it, and that continues as he makes his way to one of Cellar Door's parks, whistling a cheerful melody to himself.

V. Wildcard
T( OTA )

[ OOC: Want something else? Feel free to add me at questionableveracity on plurk or message me at quodVide#2951 on Discord!! ]

Comments

[demonicbeauty]

"If there's one thing I know about alchemists, it's that they love to talk about alchemy." Surely, baking couldn't be all that different. And Varian was just so friendly. So open and giving.

Even when he was hurting.

Maybe especially when he was hurting. He carried his guilt around, but he didn't let it stop him from...anything.

"We'll ask," she decided.

[themuseabandonsyou]

"I think it takes a lot of passion to become an alchemist," says Orpheus. "Or a baker. There's so many different things you have to keep track of. Though I guess the same is true about getting really good at most things?"

In a way, he guesses invention and alchemy might not be all that different from music and composition, in a way. The rules may differ, but he imagines the path through learning them through dedication and experimentation could be very similar.

"Anyway, I've seen him make some really complicated things before. He's really good at it! But we should probably ask him if there's something simple we could start with."

[demonicbeauty]

"The simpler, the better," she agreed. Because that pudding had been an atrocity. And even with Varian's guidance, Ariadne still doubted her abilities. There were things she was good at. Painfully good at. It seemed only natural there would be certain things she could never do. And that was simply the way it was meant to be. It ensured that people needed other people.

She stretched her legs out, one at a time. Her wings were eager, anxious to take to the sky again.

But first...

"Are you going to be all right, Orpheus?" she asked. And she made a vague gesture to his numerous transformations.

Want to wrap this up in a few tags?

[themuseabandonsyou]

"What?"

Orpheus blinks, unsure of what Airy is gesturing at exactly before he looks down at himself - the scales along his forearms and feet and the feathers along his arms - and remembers how they got on the roof in the first place. He'd almost managed to completely forget, lost in the conversation as he was.

"Oh! I'm fine, yes! This is all a little strange? But I think it's safe. Like the candy at the music festival, right after I arrived in Deerington." None of that had gone horribly wrong at all, he's pretty sure. He glances over his shoulder at his wings, flexing them experimentally, before looking back at Airy.

"Do you want to try flying again? Maybe I can try doing more than just gliding next."

Sounds good!

[demonicbeauty]

Well, if he was sure, then she supposed she wouldn't worry.

"All right," she said, smiling easily. "Let's give it a try. And don't worry if you don't get it right away. I'll help."

She wasn't her mother. She wasn't going to let him plummet, just so he learned a lesson. The only lesson in that was that you couldn't depend on other people.

Ariadne disagreed.

People needed other people.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Beaming, Orpheus nods and stands up from where he'd been sitting on the edge of the roof. Glancing at Airy for approval, he positions himself at the flat part of the rooftop's corner to give himself the longest possible runway before launching into a sprint, leaping into the air with a powerful downstroke of his wings just as he reaches the opposite corner. Slowly, clumsily, wobbling back and forth slightly - but undeniably, he starts to rise.