jikan_rpg | Curse/Kizuna Catch-All for September

Entry tags:

Curse/Kizuna Catch-All for September

⌛ Who: Runyu and anyone he encounters
⌛ What: For about a week he'll be cursed (close CR) and then he'll experience his first full Kizuna transformation...
⌛ When: Mid-September
⌛ Where: Various locations
⌛ Warnings: Childhood trauma will be mentioned as part of the dragon transformation. May include implications of child abuse/neglect.

A. Cursed (Closed to Close CR only)

The tea set he'd been given was an odd one. Still, he was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, even with knowing the curses this place had on offer. It was one chipped cup and something about that drew him in. One chipped up in a set... No, he shouldn't apply personal experiences to something as simplistic as a teacup.

Still, he prepared tea in the set and set the chipped up before his own place. The other cups were for anyone who wished to join him.

Of course he was noticing that the more tea he sipped the more bitter it became. And dry? Confused, he frowned and looked into the tea in the pot curiously. Which was likely how someone would come across him if they were at the Four Seasons Manor.

B. Transformation (Open to all)

Of the three of them living in his rooms, he was the one who hadn't yet experienced a full transformation. Probably for the best given what his transformations had been so far. However, today was about to change that fact. Because today he felt the pain in his body as he changed and quickly rushed outside. The large and unexpected dragon form meant that some things were broken on his way out of Four Seasons, rushing into the sky to go into the forests.

There he moved into a pool of water, his scales glistening. He didn't want to be seen. It wasn't the pain that caused it though. Instead it was the idea that someone could see this body of his. His true body. Only a few had been allowed to see it and now here it was on display without him having control of the fact.

Anyone coming across the water in the forest would likely see the large silvery dragon shy away from them. Between pain and panic, he was stressed. In need of reassurance honestly. But he certainly didn't know how to ask for it...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I was born a dragon. However, Immortals are able to change their form from their true bodies to those that make it easier to attend to matters. A form more similar to your own."

The head on the water shifted just slightly. A nod. Just to let the other know that he was accepting his thanks.

"If you are comfortable with it, may I know your name?"

He fights back the instinctive need to flinch, but the blade flares blood-red again for a moment.

"I see. My apologies, but I have.... poor history, with dragons."

It helps a little that now the initial battle-flare-rage-fury-fear has settled some that Runyu looks little like any of the dragons he is familiar with.

(But old caution warns that the Enemy was clever, and who knows what he left sleeping in the dark places of the world?)

"I've been called many things, over the years, but most here know me as Maglor."

(Dangerous, to give his name, but Runyu had saved him, and deserves at least some courtesy)

"I thought that might be the case. Which is why I've remained here so you have space."

The sword had certainly been a good clue but the tension in that body had been really what told the story. Enough so for Runyu to want to try to not seem so intimidating despite his side. Not easy but it helped to be able to keep most of the long length hidden under the water. At least he thought so.

At the name he was given, he lifted his head some and closed his eyes as he actually gave the other a respectful bow.

"Maglor. It is an honor to meet you even if I must apologize for making you uncomfortable."

He supposed they both were in a way since he was hardly comfortable being here in his true body.

"For your kindness, I am grateful." He manages, the old court-courtesies coming back easily, despite all the years distant.

"It is not your fault, so I beg that you do not take it to heart. Old memories, only."

"I am used to being feared and despised. For reasons that are not the same, I'm sure. But reasons all the same."

Lowering himself back to a less intimidating size again, basically just lowering himself back into the water until his head just rested in the surface, he settled to be still again.

"When I am able to change back, I will still have some of my dragon features. I'm afraid I won't be able to make those go away. For that I apologize."

Maglor manages a shaky laugh.

"That I will not begrudge - I know here we sometimes have little choice in our shapes."

Maglor has had nothing of his own yet - but then, until his brother and Elrond, he had no reason for any sort of prolonged contact. It is, he knows, only a matter of time, now.

"You are very different to the dragons of my world."

The blade has settled to an uncertain grey, but he still cannot bring himself to put it away.

"Will you tell me of the dragons in your world? I have a feeling they've hurt you..."

He could offer all the reassurances in the world that he meant no harm. In the end it had to be up to this man to decide if that was true or not. So he decided that the best thing he could do now was listen. Give this man room to explain his feelings.

"I doubt I have any tales that you will like." He murmurs shakily.

"They are the creations of our Enemy, and vicious foes."

"I am prepared to not like them, I promise. I just want to know what you have experienced so I can better understand your worries."

He was sure he'd better be able to find a way for them to reach an understanding if he knew this better.

Maglor huffs softly, looking away.

"As I said, they were weapons of the Enemy, perhaps the greatest of His creations - we still don't know what beasts he twisted to create them, but they came in varied sizes, with Ancalagon the Great being the greatest of the winged drakes, a beast of truly terrible size, such that in his fall he broke the very mountains he landed on. Some had wings, some breathed fire, others poison, and rumor spoke of ones in the cold north that breathed ice. All of them were terrifyingly cunning, and most of the cold drakes and fire drakes had speech, although some of the lesser beasts of later years were loosing that. Glaurung, Father of Dragons, we think was some maia spirit that inhabited a body, and to his offspring he passed his power of the mind, so that to look in their eyes was to find your mind enslaved and confused, allowing them to destroy you at will, or worse."

He shudders. "We met Glaurung as a juvenile, and my cousin's archers drove him back. But when Morgoth unleashed him in his prime, with his perfected offspring in his wake... Ai! They burnt our lands to ash, and our armies withered in their flames. I tried so hard to hold them back, but even the river ran dry in the flames."

Edited 2022-09-21 15:05 (UTC)

So in his world they were wild and cruel beasts of destruction. There was reasoning for it beyond horrifying chaos. Even when he had been at the heights of his worst self he had never been that almost. Most likely thanks to the tremendous sacrifice of one woman who threw herself between himself and his brother.

Runyu's eyes closed a moment and when he opened them, he let himself rise out of the water some. However, he didn't draw closer. What he did do was remain in place and bow deep to the man on the shore.

"They are not my kind from the sounds of it. But you have my deepest sympathies and greatest apologies for the cruel actions they have done. If there is ever something I can do to make amends I will do it as long as it is in my power."

Maglor flinches, but holds his ground, managing a shaky smile.

"Tis not your fault, so please do not apologise. I will manage. There is nothing that you need to feel obliged to do."

"It is no obligation, I assure you. Only a polite offer should you wish for it to be fulfilled. If you do not then I understand."

One could not force anyone to accept help or amends. He could only offer and leave it at that. It wasn't up to him to decide what happened next and he knew that. He just gave a stretch to try to get some of the tension out of his long form before settling to make himself look smaller again.

"It will likely not reassure you but perhaps I could tell you what dragons are like where I come from. What our parentage is like."

Maglor shakes his head again.

"Thank you, but I would not put you out of a way through no fault of yours."

He does tip his head in interest.

"It has been a long time since I heard new tales - if you are happy to speak of it, I do not mind listening."

"In my world there are multiple realms. In the Heavenly Realm resides a race known as Immortals. It is to this race that dragons belong since Immortals can be any number of true bodies. A dragon, a phoenix, a flower... Your true body will be that form but the rest of the time Immortals will walk around looking similar to you do now."

It was an interesting experience to explain this to another. Still, he saw the interest and that made him ready to offer his knowledge.

"Children born to Immortals often take on one aspect of each parent to become who they are. One will give the creature they become and the other the element. It makes it so one can trace the parentage this way. In the Heavenly Realm, dragons have only ever been part of the royal family. Before I was born it was my father, the Emperor, who was a golden fire dragon. At his side was his wife who was a phoenix. Two creatures of fire."

That alone was a solid clue that the Empress was not actually Runyu's real mother. After all, two parents of fire could not create a child of water. That was not how it worked. "My father had a habit of enjoying many women and seduced my mother who was a fish. From that union I was born. Water from her and dragon from him."

There was so much more to that story but...

"I have a younger brother who lives here too. He is a phoenix like his mother and his nature is that of fire. People have likened Immortals of my world to that of gods. Our purpose is to make sure that the natural movements of the Mortal Realm run smoothly and as they are meant to. For a time before I took my father's throne, I was the Night Immortal. The one who moved the stars across the sky every night and recorded the dreams of the world."

"How interesting." Maglor murmurs, and he is visibly relaxing now, the blade brightening to an interested green.

"Are your tasks assigned then, or are you born to them? It sounds as if you would be akin to the ainur of my world, but they are... mm, less people and more... concepts? That have taken on physical being. And they are mostly fea, that is, spirit, and only the most powerful or the most interested in the dealings of us Incarnates take physical form on anything like a regular basis. And they don't have children the way we do either, so in that they are very unlike your folk, for they came into being when the world did, and the only way for them to have children is to wed one of us, which few do. Some have relationships akin to parents and children - most of the smaller river tributaries which are conscious enough for speech will call themselves 'daughters' of the main branch river, for example."

"We are assigned our tasks by the Emperor himself. So it is my father who tasked me to be the Night Immortal and my brother the God of War. Sometimes it is clear what tasks best suit us but not always."

These people that the other spoke of seemed intriguing though. Runyu considered them for a moment. Concepts of what was needed in the world. That could take physical form if they were motivated to do so.

So...different.

"Have you ever beheld one of the physical manifestations of these beings?"

"What happens if the task does not suit?" He asks curiously. "I assume that there could be trouble, if one is left with an unsuitable job!"

He nods.

"Aye - the fourteen most powerful we call the Valar, the Great Powers of our world - they often took physical form to interact with us, although Morgoth, the Great Enemy, who was one of their number, became tied to his physical form as he put too much of his power into the world. Some of the lesser spirits, the Maiar, also tended to physical shapes - Eonwe, the Herald of Manwe, the Lord of the Breath of Arda, is probably the most well known, after Melian, who wed the King of the Sindar, Elu Thingol. But others have taken quieter or less noticable forms too, at times. The ones best known to me are Olorin, although when he dwelt in Middle-earth Men and Hobbits called him Gandalf, and so does he most prefer to be known, and the Ocean Maiar - Osse of the Storms, and Uinen of the Deeps."

"In the time of my father such a thing would be a disgrace. You made it work or you suffered for it."

Especially if you were him and the Empress hated you personally for existing. But that was another matter entirely. One that they were not discussing here. Instead they were having an intriguing conversation comparing their worlds.

"So someone of them moved into the world to become part of it? Is that what I'm understanding?"

Maglor wrinkles his nose. "That seems a little inefficient! Most folk do better if they enjoy their work, after all."

He has... suspicions about one of his other friends now.

"Especially if they were bad at it! It seems to be rather asking for a good deal of trouble, especially considering the scope of such tasks... "

He's sitting here, thinking about a water elemental being told to manage the night, which is not... TOO horrible but also... wouldn't he better put to use doing something water based???

(That might be the Commander of the Gap strategizing, however)

"More or less." He agrees. "The Ainur are... I suppose you could call them the builders of our world. There are others, out beyond the walls of the world, but we know only those who descended into it, to bind themselves to it that it might be their life as they are the world's. And of them, we know only who choose to show themselves to us, or who others speak of. But because they are the shapers of the world, they are truly best described as embodiments of those aspects that they shape. Manwe is Lord of the Breath of Arda, the greatest of the Valar saving only the Great Enemy, and to him to all birds of the air hold allegience. It is said that he hears all that moves upon the face of the earth, and when he works with Lord Ulmo of the Waters he brings the rain and Osse Storm-Lord delights in working with him to bring the storms. His spouse is the Lady Varda, the Star-kindler, the Lady of Light, whose stars were the first light my people saw when first our foreparents woke, long ago, and to her still do many of our people call, for her light banishes darkness, and her touch is holy, that no evil may stand before unwithered. They say that when they stand together on the top of the holy mountain in Valinor, together they see all that passes under the sky."

"One had best hope for a merciful Emperor then. At the time of my father that was not the case though few realized it until I took the throne from him and revealed his many crimes."

That was always going to be an action he would never regret. Among the many things he had done, he would never regret that moment. Even if he did regret that it had led to his brother's death.

"The spiritual beings of your world are fascinating. They truly seem to be like the gods that the other realms liken Immortals to. Yet it seems that they are like us in some ways where they have their own lives and feelings and duties to attend to..."

"Very inefficient." He grumbles. "And not a terribly good Emperor either. I think I am glad to hear that you took over!"

He nods.

"There are similarities, aye! Although none of the Valar would ever call themselves Gods - the Enemy excepting - I know Men often pray to them, and the Dwarves venerate their Maker, Aule, most highly."

Technically, the elves pray too. But Maglor is well aware of the Doom that lays over him, and he hasn't prayed for millenia. No point if no one will hear him, after all.

He knew that his own people wouldn't agree these days but that wasn't what they were currently talking about. So instead Runyu fell quiet for a moment before he realized he'd be able to change finally. Moving back, he lifted his head.

"Please give me a moment. I am changing back now."

With that he lowered himself completely under the water. Everything went still until there was something coming up from the lake, someone walking inside a bubble. When he came out, he was restored to what he normally looked like in this place. More than that, in this form, he was much smaller than Maglor.

Keeping his distance, he offered a polite bow to him. "Greetings again. I apologize again for having startled you."

Maglor blinks, waiting patiently, and smiles at Runyu, bowing back politely.

"Tis not your fault - one cannot help what this world subjects us to! Tis a pleasure to see your face."

Runyu was surprised by the reaction honestly. Especially after the reaction his true form had taken. Still, he tried to keep his distance to respect the caution from before.

"I will understand if you'd prefer not but I'd like for us to get to know each other better."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject