isawallflower | RYSLIG; ic inbox

[The blanket's hauled off, and under her table is a boy -- a pale boy, who looks uncannily like Adam yet not perfectly like Adam, whose hair's a bit less '50s and a bit more '90s, who's got baby fangs in his mouth and eyes a brighter shade of red but whose expression of slightly embarrassed relief is one she's seen before. He's wound up on his stomach, not even properly on his hands and knees, as he looks up at her from under her table, sheepishly undignfied.]

Yeah. Yeah, it's good to have arms and legs again! Hello, Riley.

[ She takes in the differences—they're minute, but they're there. It's the eyes that are the most startling, but...she supposes hers probably are as well. That was one of the first things to change for her, the eyes. Eyes, ears, claws...and the little wispy starts of feathers.

It's almost funny to think of how slow it started, looking at her now. ]

God, Ada— sorry, Yugi, here, lemme help you up. [ Careful as she always is of her claws, she offers him a hand. ]

[He takes it. His own nails are a rusty dried-blood color, they're claws when they're allowed to grow, but he's kept them trimmed neatly. The other Yugi deftly avoids hers as he puts his palm in Riley's, and pulls himself out from under the table.

He's got a big, clunky necklace on, an insanely flashy statement piece, which proves that Ryslig's got a very soft magic system that lets the other Yugi carry his clothes and anything that was on him at the time along with him in a travel form.

Give him a second to brush himself off and un-floor-wrinkle his clothes. This whole thing has been an experience. But at least he didn't end up eaten by a wild animal! That would have been embarrassing.]

Thank you.

[For the hand up, and for the advice, and for building him a table cave.]

[ Thank goodness, she first thinks, that he's not naked under there. She didn't think he would be, after having some experiences with people shifting to animal forms, but still, the worry had been there, ever-so-momentarily. ]

No sweat. [ She takes the opportunity to shake his hand, before letting it go. ] I guess this should be...nice to officially meet you?

[He nods, and shakes the hand back!]

Nice to officially meet you.

[They've talked as Adam-and-Riley, and over the network, and as a bat. But there's a nice neatness in making it official! It feels like Day 1 of something -- or Night 1, as it were.]

I should be fine now, if you want to let Maple out.

[poor little prisoner! he got friendship advice from Steve to be nice to girls' cats and he is taking it.

(He does not know it was dating advice, but this is fine, it's just the friendship advice that's relevant.)]

[ Riley gasps, as if only just remembering her protesting kitty. ] Oh...! Oh, jeez—

[ She spins around, dropping the other Yugi's hand and hurrying over to the couch. ]

Sorry, honey, it's okay, out you go— [ Maple loudly yowls, but he starts rubbing up against Riley's hands. His owner. His. ] Aww, it's okay... See, no more scary carrier.

[ ...Ah. So Riley spoils him, that's the answer. ]

[....aww. That's pretty cute, actually. That cat loves his mom very much! Maybe Steve was too quick to judge when he called Maple a mean toddler.]

...he looks a lot smaller when I'm like this.

[It's a joke. That is a joke he's making; the warmth in his voice makes that clear enough. The implication is: cats are much cuter when you're a human and not a flying mouse.]

[ Almost wistfully, Riley pokes at her kitty's nose, letting him paw at her finger. ]

You should've seen him when I first got him. He was just...skin and bone. Could fit almost completely in my hand. Just a scared little thing.

[ ...But now he's happy. Enthusiastic. Her little cat. ]

[...oh.

That'd be a very small cat.

The other Yugi can feel the affliction coming on where the closer he gets to a cat, the more inane his thoughts become. This is absolutely wild for a creature of darkness, a manifestation of judgment, to experience, because while normally his brain is buzzing with alertness and contingencies and observations, all he can think right now is, little cat. Fits in hand. Scared? No! Bad! Protect cat. Should be happy.

With effort, he pulls together a question that is reasonably intelligent:]

Did you pick his name?

[ She turns her attention back to the other Yugi, neck doing that...strangely flexible thing, as she doesn't move her body at all but seems to be looking right at him. ]

Hm? Oh, yes. He... I don't think he had one when they gave him to me? They don't seem to— [ Wait. Rewind. ] Has anyone told you about the bugs?

...bugs?

[From the look on his face, clearly not.

He is unsure how bugs can lead to kittens. There are horrible possibilities in his head. But he's about to find out.]

[ Riley simply sighs, long and frustrated. ]

Okay. So, when I first...woke up here, back in November, it was in this...underground tunnel system. Apparently, these...weird bugs the size of children found all of us who'd just been dropped on the ground by the freakin' fog lady, and decided to...wrap us up in their webs for a party for their queen.

[ ...She shivers a little. It wasn't...as bad as it could have been. She knows that now. But she still didn't like it. ]

And when we woke up, they had...like— they kept handing out party favors? A bunch of deep-fried rocks and other...stupid things they thought we could eat. [ She starts gently massaging Maple behind the ears, and the kitten just...he loves it. He flops over. ] Some of them...were little kittens. He probably wasn't even a month old. They definitely didn't know how to feed them, or worse, thought...we would want to eat them. So... Well, there was no way I could just leave him there.

...oh.

[Inside the other Yugi's brain, two subroutines are running. One is filing away the data: that's three entry points he's aware of, all of them involved initial immobilization and safety before leading to rescue, but rougher and more painful ones aren't unheard-of.

The other is--]

Of course you had to keep him.

[He'd thought Maple had come from Poundmates; apparently, though, he's a rescue, and yes, Riley was good and right to keep this cat, love and protect Maple for the rest of his life.]

...are the bugs still there?

Edited (thanks for nothing, autocorrect) 2021-04-28 14:17 (UTC)

[ With a humorless smile and creased brows: ]

Knowing my luck? Of course. [ She adds, ] Last I saw, they burst into everyone's places to spread what they understood Christmas cheer to be.

[ From her tone? It sounds like it was awful! ]

[He makes a disgusted face and noise.]

Eesh. Sounds pretty upsetting!

[Bugs breaking into your home? Gross. No one wants that even when it's regular bugs!]

What part of the peninsula was their cave in?

[Who's got two thumbs again that he didn't have five minutes ago, and is totally going to scope it out to see if they're still there and what they're up to because he wants to look into arrival scenarios? This bat!]

[ Riley corrects: ] Not cave, they've got a whole part of like...a town. It's in Kulen. An abandoned building or two, a tunnel system... Who knows if they're still there, though.

[ She raises her hands, and Maple thinks it's a game, so he jumps at them. Riley seems used to this. ]

I haven't set foot near them and will continue to not do so.

I can understand that!

[A bug town in Kulen...

That sounds pretty gross. But he's totally going. Maybe not tonight, but it's going on the quest list.]

Thanks for telling me all this. But it's late for you, isn't it? You've been a real help, Riley -- I'm grateful! But it'd be a shame to repay you by overstaying my welcome.

...

[But he doesn't want to fall into the same miscommunication-mistake Adam did. He should be clear about this.]

...if you want, we can hang out another time?

Edited 2021-04-30 19:44 (UTC)

[ Late for her? It's late in general, she almost says, before remembering right. Right, he's probably nocturnal now. Vampire and all that. It's thinking about this that reminds Riley of the time, and she fights a yawn; the girl's more of an early riser than anything, so he's very correct. ]

Right— you probably have other things to do, too. [ And she actually doesn't mean that in self-deprecation! She smiles, just now realizing how tired she really is. ] I'd like that.

[ It echoes their conversation in the other world. ]

...But, next time you should probably use the door.

Yes, I'd prefer that, too. I don't want to be a Dracula!

[All resemblance to events in Bram Stoker's novel tonight is purely coincidental and unintentional, and he does not want to reenact it again!]

...but you'll have to tell me which door leads out.

[It's not completely clear, since that's not how he came in.]

[ So he says to Riley, who knows like, so much more about Twilight than Dracula. She at least gets the reference, more or less. ]

Oh! Right, yes, of course, just this way—

[ As her head feathers crest slightly, she bustles up toward the front door, which the living room opens up to. ]

Go fast, okay? Maple's been learning how to be an escape artist.

[The other Yugi wouldn't want to be an Edward Cullen, either, if he knew. He'd never want to dislike himself that much! Self-loathing's not a good look, even with sparkles.

He follows her to the door and gives a quick, firm nod.]

Okay.

See you later!

[And when she opens the door, he....for all this talk about Edward Cullen, the other Yugi sure does superspeed out the door, fast enough to leave a feather-ruffling breeze behind in his wake.]

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WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, CHEERYCHERRY. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 019.46.820.17 * CHEERYCHERRY has joined 019.46.820.17 <CHEERYCHERRY> It's Riley! <CHEERYCHERRY> Please leave a message! <CHEERYCHERRY>** Please be someone with their priorities sorted out properly!