Home 22: Our neighborhood watch is extra vigilant

[Deathkeeper]

Borholm

Walter is very happy that he isn't going to be turning into a giant pegasus monster. Well, hopefully.
Can you at least give me a heads-up on what I'll end up? he asks the voice.

But then they're outside? Walter takes a deep, joyous breath with his equine lungs.
"Oh, thank gods. Uh, nice color change I guess, Libra. Wait, what do you mean sorta? What did you do to my castle?" he says. She better not have made it not his anymore. Willa will be upset if they're homeless. Walter will be too.

[Recaiden]

Soon enough CLO returns, accompanied by someone else.

"Allow me to present the Princess Rose. Rose, this is Sarina."
The monster waves cheerily and then hops into a chair.

[Deathkeeper]

Spider Woods

Sarina smiles. "Good evening Princess. Seelo told me a little bit about you. It's nice to meet you." she says cheerily.

[Terumitsu]

[Summit Springs]

Victoria stands a bit shakily as the elevator comes to a stop. "That was some ride." She says with a giggle. She'll follow Misha out of the elevator and onto the third floor.

Summit Springs

It ascends rapidly as soon as their inside and the doors are shut, little concern for acceleration as it shoots upwards and then stops, hanging in the air for a moment before coming back down onto the pillar of water with a slow, smooth descent that brings it to a rest three floors above where it started.

"Third floor, discarded clothing, comfy beds, power washers, medical wing and sporting goods!" Misha announces cheerily, heading out and leading the way to one of those things, certainly.

[Summit Springs - Telecommunications!]

"Sure, come on over. Just mind all the children, I have a friend staying over here right now and she have a lot of them." Cessie replies. "We can discuss details in person then."

Summit Springs

"Already took care of laundry so that first one is out. And I guess camping is a sporting thing." Riss said once they entered what presumably wasn't where the power washers were stored... Which was odd as she was clearly far enough away to where she couldn't have heard the conversation at all. Regardless, though 'medical wing' was one way of putting it, really it was perhaps better called a 'segment' as the area was more of a partition of a much larger workshop. This area, at least, seemed to have the essentials of chemicals, colored liquids, tubes, and what looked to be five large tanks encircling a supporting pillar in contrast to further away where the trappings of automation and fabrication overtook the local scenery. Regardless of whether it was mechanical or medicinal in it's intent, nearly everything was of a sterile, hospital white with smooth, flowing shapes that eschewed hard edges and corners. Just about everything was utterly lacking in features or labels as if polished clean of any kind of identification that were once there... Or if the maker simply didn't see the point of putting them there in the first place.

"Grab a pair there, by the display." the muse said, hands in the pockets of a surprisingly appropriate lab coat, a button-up white shirt and slacks hiding underneath while a red, fuzzy 'belt' curled around her waist.. Though only a moment later, one end of it was pointing to a few hooks on which hung a few sets of glasses. Misha was well acquainted with these by now though it was always fun to see the reaction of someone new... As well as see their reaction to the display they rested near given how it looked like a mix between a human brain with attached spinal column and the same flowing aesthetic of the rest of the room save for appearing to look like it was made of what could only be described as a 'fuzzy metal.' Victoria wouldn't be given a chance to follow the muse's suggestion completely, though, before Riss would follow up with: "So, um.. Hello, I guess. I'm Riss. Or, well. Clarissa Heln-Gelter legally, I mean. So, uh.. Welcome to our home?"

[Summit Springs - Telecommunications!]

Oh great. Children. Little, noisy, and oddly smelling larval humanoids. Riss couldn't say she hated them, per say, but something about them always seemed to dredge up... Something in the back of her mind. "I-..Will do that. Yes." the muse responded, the cadence of her reply not entirely masking her disinclination towards the idea of having to watch out for little ones. And they run around everywhere and can crash into you and you end up getting grabbed and poked and eugh.. "So, in any case, I will be right over with a few extra hands. Expect me within forty-seven minutes or so." she said, closing the connection and getting ready to head over to a particular keep.

[Artemis97]

[Summit Springs]

"Thank you." The half-fiend says. "I'm Victoria Rock, but you can call me Tori." She moves to pick up a pair of glasses from the display and slips them on, before smiling and pointing. "Is this a brain? That's so cool looking."

[Recaiden]

"Good evening!"
Rose's voice is high, somewhat childish, and overwhelmingly chipper.
"It's great to be meeting you at last. I'm sure we're going to be great friends. Have you been enjoying CLO's games?"

[Deathkeeper]

Spider Forest

Sarina smiles at the princess. Childish perhaps, but she certainly seems nice.
"We've just been enjoying tea. I'm not sure about games. Probably." she says cheerily.

[Recaiden]

"Ooh, you have been!"
And with that, a happy, spider-filled tea party can really ensue.

~fin~

[Shadowcaller]

Borholm

Walter is very happy that he isn't going to be turning into a giant pegasus monster. Well, hopefully.
Can you at least give me a heads-up on what I'll end up? he asks the voice.

But then they're outside? Walter takes a deep, joyous breath with his equine lungs.
"Oh, thank gods. Uh, nice color change I guess, Libra. Wait, what do you mean sorta? What did you do to my castle?" he says. She better not have made it not his anymore. Willa will be upset if they're homeless. Walter will be too.

Borholm

There is no determined outcome for you, Walter, as you are not going to become me. While you have consumed my essence, it cannot be united with your soul. Instead it will merely enchant your essence. It won't make you truly immortal, just as I never was, but to other beings, the difference is insignificant.

Libra shakes her head. "Relax, will you? Your castle isn't gone, but its not like you can live there anymore. It so doesn't suit you now." She replies. "These people are gonna need some convincing though, so you up to the task? I actually thought of a great idea that you could use. You could like, visit their leaders dreams and maybe come with a omen or something. Gods do that stuff, right?"

[Deathkeeper]

Borholm

Well uh, thanks. You gonna be in my head forever?

And then at Libra he frowns.
"Well where am I supposed to live, Libra? Unless you moved them Buko and Willa are still in the castle.
And I'm not a god yet, Libra. Until my soul gets enchanted or whatever I don't know if I can do any of that stuff." Walter says, already fairly sick of this scheme of Libra's.

[Shadowcaller]

Borholm

I will fade in time, I will never truly be gone, but my voice will eventually be silenced.

Libra waves her hand dismissively. "You're supposed to live here, ok? But whatever, I guess you want to talk to that super-weird female version of yourself about it or something?"

[Recaiden]

Does Walter still sleep? Or at least, daydream?

One day soon he(?) might find that he is no longer alone with his thoughts. Someone's traipsing up from the dreamworld, through the cosmic unconsciousness, and into the god-thing's own imaginings.

"Hello?"

[Deathkeeper]

Gallope Dreamscape

Perhaps Willa is here too somewhere, but one would have to look for her.
What the intruder might find is a snowy glade with a few bare but healthy tree. The moon, just more than half-full floats overhead, and on top one snowdrift sits a mare, white save for a few black splotches. She's not young but old enough to have certainly have had a foal at some point. She lifts her head up, ears perking at the voice. "Hello."

[Recaiden]

Intruder is such a presumptuous word. How about 'visitor'?

A two-tailed white tigress with particularly long silly ears bounds through the snowdrifts, coming closer before leaping up into the crook of one of the nearby trees. Her apparent age is similar to the mare's, and since any of the good signs as to whether such creatures have had children require a bit of inspection, anyone would have to wonder.
"There you are! I couldn't help but notice someone like you showing up."

[Deathkeeper]

Gallope Dreamscape

" 'Like me?' I'm a lot of things, so I think you'll have to be a bit more specific." the mare asks her good-naturedly, amused by the tiger's antics. The tree is strong enough to bear her weight.

[Recaiden]

"Like a sort of god." The tigress responds, dangling a paw over the edge of the branch.
"Although if you'd like to list all the things you are, that would probably be informative."

[Deathkeeper]

Gallope Dreamscape

"Well, I'm a god and yet still sort of mortal, apparently. I'm a protector of homesteads, of animals, a herald of change and growth. I am Winter, and a mother, though I suppose only metaphorically." the mare babbles, waggling a hoof as if tallying things on fingers.
There is presently a muffled voice trying to say something from deep under the snowdrift.
"Oh, that's just Summer being a pest. I don't suppose you want to talk to him too? He's not really all that important for a few months anyway." she says casually.

[Recaiden]

"That's a sort. I'm a protector of, things in general, I suppose. And metaphorical is probably the easiest sort to be." The tigress answers glibly. Then she springs down and digs lightly at the snowdrift.
"You may as well let him up. Are Spring and Fall around here somewhere?"

[Deathkeeper]

Gallope Dreamscape

The mare sighs and shakes her head.
"No, no. He used to own the place, so he's always around. Now he's just one of the rest of us, but it'll be a while before he settles down and accepts that. Right now he can't exist without me."
She shudders, and her head is suddenly replaced by the upper body of a thirty-ish year old woman, pretty much who you'd expect from the voice. Those who know Willa might see a resemblance, but this centaur is older, and a bit softer in build. A sheet of rimed frost immediately forms on her chest to protect her modesty.
"Much better. Even if I have to get used to all of this again." she says, frowning at her chest.

[Recaiden]

That didn't make a whole lot of sense to the tigress, but that's okay.

"Do you expect it to change from right now?" She blinks at the transformation.
"Oh! Do you have any connection to Willa Gallope?"

It seems only polite to match the transformation; she wraps the shadow of a tree around herself as garb and takes on a more Leah-like shape, with a human upper body separating the silly ears from the tiger's fur. She adjusts her sunglasses, definitely doesn't stare for a moment at the ice, and nods.
"Pretty annoying, isn't it?"

[Deathkeeper]

Gallope Dreamscape

Winry Gallope's horse-like ears flick. It's nice to see that she's not the only 'taur with those. It had seemed silly, at first.
When Message adjusts her glasses, she'll find that as she looks back the ice-shirt has changed into a slightly into a different style of blouse. In fact it seems different every time she looks away. Its shape is fleeting and unique every moment, like a snowflake, but never too revealing. Winter's not a tease like Spring.
"It might. I've felt weird ever since everything happened. Like...well I dunno, everything feels odd, I suppose. Maybe I will. I feel like something's coming.
Yeah, Willa's my twin. We used to be one person, but then we were split up. Which means I was a guy and I have to get used to everything again."
If Message is paying attention she might realize that "Winter" calling "Summer" a he indicates that it's something that W will have to get used to doing.

[Recaiden]

Message smiles. She certainly never expected to comfort someone by looking like them.
"Like you're someone completely new?" She suggests. "I've had more than my share of different bodies to be in. Never changed sex, though."
And Winry's going to shift from one sort of thing to another with the seasons, hmm? How odd.

"You're probably aware of a lot more now, right? A sense of homesteading and changing?"
The cat-taur paces around the snowdrift, taking in the dreamworld (and the goddess atop the snowdrift).

[Deathkeeper]

Gallope Dreamscape

Winry nods.
"Yeah, like...everything feels good Strange, but good. But it's also wrong because my head knows I should be Walter." she shakes her head, looking back at Message. She stops for a moment to look appreciatively at her. Lovely color. Winry prefers more curves but that's just her.
"Yes, truly. I can sense the boundaries of all the homesteads I'm near, all the animals. I know how they'll grow and which won't. And I can sense all the ones who've had children, and all the ones who still are. Sometimes I've felt like I could gather them all up and-" she puts her hands to her chest, rocking them back and forth.
"But uh, in a word, yes."

[Recaiden]

Message nods back. That all sounds familiar.
"You feel like you can do so much now. Even little things like walking on all these feet are amazing if you stop to appreciate them. But at the same time, it's all different. I don't envy all the transitions you have."
She starts to blush, and her tails flick back and forth. People don't look at her like that, and she's not sure how to feel. She slinks a little closer.

"Aww. I don't know that you can take care of them all yourself, though."

[Deathkeeper]

Gallope Dreamscape

"I haven't had less than four feet in ages." she admits.
Winry smiles bashfully, ears dipping.
"Well, I know. It would go against the natural order for me to keep all of them safe. And it might be that I don't have anything or anyone to care for right at the moment. Maybe I'll have children some day, but the time's not ready for it yet."

[Recaiden]

"Lucky you, then."
Message starts to smile again herself.
"With your portfolio, I expect you'll have something to care for soon enough."
"Trust me, the time is never ready. I used to want children a good deal. But I didn't have a partner or a stable home or know enough myself. I still didn't when Yueh came along. Now that I do have those things, I can hardly imagine finding the time and effort it would need."

[Deathkeeper]

Gallope Dreamscape

"Well, I'll have to find a nice immortal person who's alright with centaurs. Maybe if you're right, I shouldn't wait too long and just try it. But maybe parishioners will satisfy the itch. I shouldn't be hasty. Winter isn't quick, after all." the goddess muses.

[Recaiden]

Message nods, biting her lip for a moment.
"I'm not suggesting you rush out. Just don't wait for everything to be perfect."
"Well, Winter can be really sudden. But it's not unpredictable or anything. It'll all be in Winter's own time."

[Deathkeeper]

Gallope Dreamscape

"Well, thanks for the advice. You should visit me in the real world some time. Er...You alright, dear? You look troubled. " asks Winry, looking at Message with concern.

[Recaiden]

Message chuckles.
"Just thinking about my family."
"I'll do that! Since I've been invited it shouldn't be too much trouble to head out into the real world."

She returns to tiger-shape and bounds off towards a greater concentration of trees.