vatheon | (no subject)

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Who: Equius, Gamzee, and ~~Excelsior Dadleer~~ Darkleer
When: almost immediately after the curse goes into effect
Where: The Hoofbeastfeathers Hive
Style: Prose
Status: Closed off like a blueblood's emotions

Despite Darkleer's current problems, which he still won't talk about, things have been pretty quiet in the highblood hive. Equius and Gamzee have been tiptoeing around, giving Darkleer his space, and even the chocobos have been more subdued than usual. Personally, Equius hopes a deep, dreamless sleep will set everything right again, and it will look better in the morning.

Equius drops off into sleep immediately, as is his custom, with Gamzee curled beside him. After what seems like only moments, he's jolted awake when the bed creaks, groans... and collapses underneath them with a crash. He tries to jerk into a sitting position, but there's something wrong with his lower body, it feels bigger and bulkier than usual, with way too many many legs, and when he instinctively shouts, all that comes out is an alarmed whinny.

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It's a toss up whether it is the bed giving away or Equius' alarmed whinny that jerks Gamzee awake. He jolts up with a surprised sound -- it's a bleat really -- clamping his hands around his face in surprise and then letting out another bleat in surprise when he finds that his face is far less face-y and far more snout-y. And covered in very fine, fine hair.

His eyes go wide, the pupils for once, oddly horizontal, and he jerks his head around to stare at Equius, his long fuzzy ears standing out in utter shock.

Just... give him a few minutes to process this.

To assume Darkleer has been asleep at all demonstrates an astounding amount of ignorance towards the troll's sleeping habits, particularly when his mind is tormented by certain other matters that somehow always seem to concern lowblooded rebels. Tonight is no different, and he is hunched over his workbench when he feels the peculiar, unique sensation he can recognize as a curse being put into play.

He certainly doesn't expect the change which suddenly pulses out through his room, however. When he makes a move to jerk back, he finds that it isn't so easy. The chair beneath him suddenly breaks- an occurrence which has not happened for some time- and he finds himself crashing to the floor. Suddenly, his lower body feel strange and foreign. What also catches his attention, oddly enough, is that he seems to be missing his shirt.

Before he can think much on that, however, he hears startled sounds coming from the direction of the children's room. His misery over the events with Summoner, the surprise from the curse- all of that is dismissed instantly. What hits him hard is a hard and quick protectiveness that makes him press his hands against the floor.

"Equius! Gamzee! Are you alright!?"

Equius is going to be impossibly embarrassed by this later, but the combination of bleating, the crash from elsewhere in the hive, and the goat face where Gamzee's used to be is a little too much for him. With another high-pitched whinny--which doesn't help either, truth be told--he starts kicking and thrashing, and rolls right off the broken bed and onto his back, his legs in the air and waving around wildly.

And there's far too many legs, many more than normal.

When Equius starts thrashing, Gamzee quickly scrambles backwards, realizing then that it wasn't just his face that changed. where have his feet gone? His feet! His loveable giant clown feet that are so easy to stand on! They are gone! Replaced by... what the fuck was up with those legs.

He drags himself backwards out of their broken bed --alas, poor bed, he knew you well-- half dragging the blankets with him, not trusting his new stilts enough to stand up.

"Equius! Hey, hey, calm down."

That thrashing sound he can hear coming from the respite block of the children does as much for Darkleer as Gamzee's face does for Equius. The older troll simply handles it a great deal better.

The first order of business is to take a deep breath and survey his own changes. What he sees is nostalgic and surprising- the STRONG, muscular pale body of his lusus is where his legs would be. Except, no, just similar to his lusus, not his lusus himself. The body of a warhorse...?

He could see why the children would be alarmed, then, if their situation is similar. Darkleer will not keep them waiting any longer. Reaching up for the wall, he begins to carefully push himself up, awkwardly directing his new legs as best he can. He just has to remember how his lusus did it... Go slow, and remember. As he does this, using the wall for balance and guidance, he continues to call out.

"I'm coming, you two. Equius. Calm. Everything will be alright. I'm coming."

The sound of the two voices he knows so well, that he cares for so much, calms Equius down, and with a snort and a resounding crash, he manages to roll over onto his side, his legs sprawled out in front of him. Panting, he brings one hand to his face, scrubbing it over his eyes, then props himself up on one elbow and looks down at himself.

He's had this form before, but last time he was lithe and gray, quick-footed and thin-ankled. This time, his horse half is dark, as black as the night sky, and huge. No wonder the bed broke, he's... he's enormous. Staring at his lower body in shock, Equius begins patting at his top half, and he's bigger up there too, he's... he's Darkleer-sized.

He's Darkleer-sized.

Give him a moment to allow that to sink in.

"You okay?" Now that Equius has calmed down some, and Gamzee is not in danger of getting brained by an errant hoof, Gamzee dares to drawl closer. Crawl, because fuck if he has any idea on how to properly work his legs yet.

His eyes glide over Equius' form and though it isn't entirely the same, he does recognize it somewhat. He's the same as back when they first got their smooch on for the first time. Except. Bigger. Way bigger. "Fuck, you're huge."

Correction: normal-Darkleer sized.

The narration's meaning soon becomes obvious as the sound of slow, heavy hoofsteps get ever closer to Equius and Gamzee's respite block. Darkleer is taking extra care in not falling over again, wanting to get to the pair as soon as possible, no set backs. The door is set open, and Darkleer has to bend down to enter. He's still a bit bigger than Equius, just a bit to be noticeable but not much else. However, that isn't what is truly striking.

Normally, even without meaning to, Darkleer is all shadows and subtlety despite being built like a fortified keep. His armor is dull and serviceable, and dark gray troll skin doing well for the shadows he so favors, just like his long black hair. However, it has if someone has taken this careful quiet shadow and pressed it out against the sun until it has bleached his form like bones might be. It is not only his lower half which is pale right down to the hooves and all along the smooth tail which drags along the ground behind him, but the rest of his body as well. No more ashen skin, no more night black hair. In fact, his hair seems to be following the trend of his tail and is longer than usual, falling all down his back and ending at his waist. Even the yellow in his eyes has been replaced.

Darkleer, having not bothered to look into a mirror, is unaware of these changes, instead focusing completely on the two boys and only looking slightly surprised at Gamzee.

"Are the two of you alright?"

Equius glances up, and... whoah. Whoah, look at Darkleer. He knows it's his ancestor, because of the voice and the concern all over his face, but he's changed. He's so pale, almost like a star burning in their doorway, and they're the same size now but on opposite sides of the color spectrum...

Equius looks back down at himself, at his skin that's a deep, burnished mahogany, at the long strands of black hair that fall past his elbows, at that beautiful black horse's body, and he stumbles to his feet. Yeah, he remembers this, he remembers his body, even though everything in the room is so much smaller than he remembered it and he has to duck his head to keep it from hitting the ceiling.

"Darkleer?"

He turns then, and looks at Gamzee, at his new form, and it's time to stare.

"Gamzee?"

"It's me." He pulls himself into a seated position, taking inventory of himself properly. His legs are still really weird, covered in thick fur, stretched out in front of him. He tries to wriggle his toes for a moment, but no go; he has hooves now, after all.

He face feel funny too, maw sticking out a bit more than normal, and his teeth all flat and dull. That is going to be something to adjust to. Reaching up he pats his face for a moment, feeling its change shape, the fine fur, then further up to his long ears --he pulls them for a moment-- through his hair, up higher and--

He sighs in relief. Okay. Horns are still there.

With all that personal inspection done --just wait until he figures out he has a tail-- he turns to look at Darkleer and just ends up staring.

And staring.

And bleating in surprise.

"It's me," he confirms, taking very slow steps into the room. It's uncomfortable to be hunched like this, but if he doesn't want his horns crashing through the ceiling, it's what he must do. There's a glance towards Equius and Darkleer gives an approving nod when he sees the boy standing on his own.

"Are you both alright?" is the next question he asks as he bends down at the waist so he can hold out a hand to Gamzee. "Can you stand?"

"This must be a curse!"

Well done for figuring out the obvious, Equius. He tries to laugh, but it comes out sounding like a nicker... which only pleases him more, and he actually does a little shuffling dance with his front legs. Cut him some slack, he loves this body, and it's even better now because he's bigger, and...

"Gamzee!"

He looks at his matesprit, his eyes bright and shining in his dark face.

"Gamzee, remember last time I was like this! I can touch you in this body!"

Sadly enough for Equius, Gamzee is pouring all his concentration into learning to stand up. He doesn't have four hooves like they do; he's stuck with only two tiny ones and it isn't as easy as it looks. Gripping Darkleer's hand tightly, he pulls himself up onto his hooves, tottering and wobbling uncertainly for a few moments and--

--then Equius excited voices catches him completely by surprise and he jerks, his legs seeming to lock up, going completely stiff and suddenly he is on his back again, like a shellbeast the wrong way up. "Woah. Shit. You fuckin' got me startled."

Edited 2012-02-07 01:11 (UTC)

"Oh dear." Frowning, he shuffles in place and wishes horses were creatures with bodies more inclined to lay down. It is awkward to kneel, and he is not sure if he cares to try when he's still getting used to this body. There's no real way for Darkleer to reach down again, so he just remains in place, brows furrowed.

"Sir Makara? Is there something wrong with your legs?" A pause, and then an addendum- "Besides the obvious switch."

Whelp. That wasn't the reaction Equius wanted.

He carefully walks around the bed and then folds his front legs, kneeling down beside Gamzee. Yeah, he remembers, he's got this, and please ignore how his tail twitched and knocked over a pile of clean towels in a gentle cascade.

"Are you okay, Gamzee?"

His brow is furrowed in concern, and he examines Gamzee's goat legs.

"Do you need help getting back up?"

Gamzee's legs remain stiff and stick-out-y for a few more seconds before they unlock, and he can bend them again. He tries to wave away the concern of both centaurs --man, they are even bigger close up-- laughing softly. "S'cool. Ain't no biggie. Just these lil' fuckers all getting up in their fright when you said that. Weren't all expecting no fuckin' noise, I guess."

And as if to demonstrate, he closes one hand on Darkleer's hand, the other on Equius' upper arm, and he manages to pull himself to his hooves again. He wobbles for a moment, before grinning, throwing his arms wide. "See. All it motherfuckin' to--"

And then he tipped backwards again. This time it wasn't leg-lock-up though. Just clumsiness.

Oh Gamzee. Whatever are they going to do with you.

Luckily, this time Darkleer is prepared, and he manages to snag Gamzee's arm before he goes crashing to the floor again. Sighing good naturedly, he just gathers the faun in his arms and carefully turns around.

"I believe we should investigate the rest of the hive. This time, more has been changed than simply ourselves."

Equius clambers to his feet, bonking his head on the ceiling when he swiftly rises to his new height. He rubs it ruefully, and notices that his horns are gone. Huh, Darkleer and Gamzee still have theirs. Weird.

But he doesn't let it bother him, and his tail starts swishing back and forth in excitement.

"Yeah, let's go check it out!"

Gamzee leans his elbows on Darkleer's shoulder, glancing back at Equius. Sure, carry him wherever you want. He's cool with checking out the hive. His little tail flicks a little and then suddenly a great important notion enters his skull.

"Hey. Hey, I fuckin' bet you could all like touch me again this time."

Remember how someone wasn't listening just now? Yeah.

Darkleer's mouth twitches as if he might smile, but he restrains himself. He's good at that, you see. The whole 'not being happy' thing. "An astute observation, Sir Makara."

Hmm. Speaking of which...

Glancing back at Equius, Darkleer holds out Gamzee. "Would you two care to test that notion out, just to be sure?" AKA go ahead and get your red on, children, Daddy won't complain. Today.

Let it never be said that Equius and Gamzee don't have the best dad.

Shyly, Equius holds out his arms.

Shouldn't someone ask Gamzee if he is okay with just getting handed over? What if he objects to-- haha, yeah, like he would ever have a problem getting deposited in Equius' arms.

He stretches out his own arms when he's being held out, his tail flicking and twitching happily, finally calling his attention to that particular area of himself. Squirming around --still in Darkleer's arms, he is the best son-- he manages to catch sight of his own ass, his eyes widening.

"Holy fuck. Tail."

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