jikan_rpg | Curse/Kizuna Catch-All for September

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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...

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The head of a silvery dragon moved up out of the water, encouraging the person to land on his head since he could support him. If he was able to catch him, he would simply move his head toward the shore so that he could help him settle there. Otherwise he supposed he was going to have to be very clever about catching him.

Ah well, he'd just have to hope that he caught him for now. Best to focus on one thing at a time.

A dragon.

Maglor's breath catches, and the blade burns a deep, warning red, the crimson of flame and blood, and Maglor smells smoke, the Dagor Bragollach rising in his memory. For a moment, his eyes flash a deadly silver, and he tenses, poised to strike.

But the beast does... nothing. Indeed, it pushes him gently back to shore.

Maglor crouches on the shore, watching Runyu with wild eyes, fighting to anchor himself in the here and now, the blazing red of the kizuna blade now interrupted by flashes of purple uncertainty.

(It might be a person, after all. He can't assume. But he can still smell smoke)

"Who are you?" he says, and regrets a little that it comes out far harsher than he might normally.

Once he was sure the man was safe on the shore, he moved further into the water again until only his head rested on the surface. It almost looked like he was settled on a layer of glass with the ease he used to remain there. Blue eyes watched him cautiously, keeping track of the sword, but largely staying out of reach. Mainly to ensure he looked as harmless as possible considering he was, well, a dragon.

"My name is Runyu." He was quiet just a moment before speaking again. "I mean you no harm."

That much he wanted to make as clear as possible. Well, as best he could considering this person clearly had bad experiences with dragons if this was his reaction to him.

An unfamiliar name - and given courteously at that, without the sickly shiver of corrupting dragonspeech that the Enemy's beasts had.

(the purple flickers of uncertainty are more frequent, now, but Maglor cannot bring himself to put the blade down, as yet)

"The Enemy might say that too." He rasps, but concedes, "But you have done me no harm, as yet."

(and Runyu has been polite, even moving back so as not to loom)

"Are you one of the folk drawn here, then, and changed against your will?"

(how cruel to force a dragon-shape)

Edited 2022-09-13 05:22 (UTC)

"I am. Usually I keep my form looking more human aside from the kizuna changes. This was...beyond my control."

Certainly not what he would have preferred. Largely because he wasn't comfortable in his true body given his history. He was only recently coming to accept this at all and now to have no control over it...

"My nature is that of water. So I came to rest here when I looked up to see you walking then sinking. I wanted to ensure you got to shore while as dry as possible."

He could at least do that since he was here.

"More human?" Slowly, slowly, he forces himself to relax.

"Are you not, then?"

A flicker of a smile.

"I thank you for it. I had anticipated a swim back to shore."

"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?"

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