Silly Plots 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Deathkeeper]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Willa sighs, pleased.
”No, you’re the magical Shapeshifting hunk and I’m just the horse-girl with the chest they make fun of when they think I can’t notice.” she mumbles.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Corvus would blush, but rabbits can't really do that. Instead, he wiggles his ears slightly, and crosses his forepaws in an angry manner.

"Who makes fun of you?
I'll teach them a lesson they won't forget! Making fun of a beautiful young lady like you." He punches the air with his forepaws. It's adorably cute, though that's not his intent. "They'll rue the day they ever crossed you!"

[Deathkeeper]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans ]

Willa laughs, long and deep in her second set of lungs. She taps the rabbit gently on his twitching nose.
”I’ll never win anyone over by beating them up with my boyfriend’s tiny paws.” she insists, before going back to playfully tug at his ears.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Corvus subsides with a huff after a few moments of Willa tugging his ears gently.

"I suppose not. But we could at least play some tricks on them or something." He grumbles. Clearly, he's not happy to just leave things lie when there are people out to hurt someone he cares about.

[Deathkeeper]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

"Well, you can come with me and if you hear anyone saying anything with those giant ears of yours, you can deck them with my blessing." she says, suddenly feeling quite jealous of Corvus' magical powers. He just seems so...innocent and cheerful, and for a moment she wishes she could mimic his mindset.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

"Deal!" Corvus says, nodding. "I'll even be sporting and deck them in this form. They'll at least have a chance, then." Willa is unaware of the fact that Corvus has defeated trained soldiers in hand-to-hand combat using this form thanks to a rather handy ability that allows him to use his full human strength, speed and stamina even when in one of his animal forms. He does try to be cheerful, if not exactly innocent. He puts up a good facade of it, though.

[Deathkeeper]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Will strokes his head one more time. "Well, do you have anything else for me?" she asks him. He couldn't possibly have that many forms, could he?

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Corvus chuckles.

"Oh, I have lots I can show off, but perhaps I should save them. Might ruin some of the mystery. I really should show you my war form, though." He nuzzles her again, reluctant to stop the cuddles. He likes being close to her like this, but she'll have to let him go if she wants to see his war form.

[Deathkeeper]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Willa nods and sets Corvus down on the edge of the bed.
"Alright, I'm okay. Go." she tells him. She doesn't think anything he turns into can really scare her much. She's not so delicate as he seems to think she is.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Corvus hops out into the middle of the room, mostly so that he has enough space. His body glows once more, and he grows. And grows, and grows, his form becoming humanoid once more, but massive. He doesn't stop growing until he's a little over nine feet tall, his entire frame filled with hard-edged muscle. His body is still covered with fur, like that of his tiger form, and his head retains most of the features of that form, but it too has grown in proportion to his frame. His fingers end in long, sharp, shining silver claws, as do his toes, his feet and legs something of a hybrid of the tiger's and his human form. His tattoos display themselves as always, though they seem to have a bit of extra light in this form, obviously evident instead of blending into the fur. Calling the form a 'weretiger' would be technically accurate, but the sheer predatory presence and physical power obviously evident means that simple of a label does the form a disservice. He could probably rip someone of Willa's size in half with his bare hands if he had a mind to. Probably not as scary as he thought it might be, but then, most people where he's from tend to run when they see it, so it was safer to assume she might be frightened than not.

His voice is positively gutteral in this form, though he sounds a bit nervous when he speaks.

"Well, what do you think?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Willa smiles at him, a hand on her cheek. "Well, you're not getting a kiss with all those knives in your mouth. But at least you're a pleasant height, now." He's probably about as tall as a normal centaur at this point.
"And at least you're as um..." she blushes, "probably big enough to help me down the stairs in the morning, because I kind of have trouble with those normally." she admits.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Corvus looks surprised for a brief moment, then chuckles to himself.

"Oh, yes, I can definitely help there," He says, flexing one arm to show off his muscles, as if they needed to be highlighted any further, though it's done more in jest than anything else. "But I suppose I'll have to change again to get my reward, then, won't I?" He says, winking as he makes his way back over to the bed.

[Deathkeeper]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

"Yeah, I don't think I want to get up and leave so soon, and this bed isn't big enough for both of us with you like that, so..." she trails off, gesturing at the space beside her with her eyes.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Corvus smiles as he glows, taking another step, his form changing, shrinking back to his human shape, before he clambers back into bed in the spot Willa's made for him, but not before he pauses to give her a quick kiss.

"I'm glad you want to stay."

[Deathkeeper]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

"Well, of course. You said that you weren't staying anywhere for the moment though, right? And that means that after this you're coming back with me. I'm still in a public longhouse with everyone else but you could try building a new place if it's too small for you." she offers. The Town certainly isn't running out of space.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Corvus' smile seems to light his whole face.

"I would like nothing better. I'd like to see how you folks build houses, though, to make sure there's enough room for both of us," He says, enthusiasm obvious in his voice.

[Deathkeeper]

[Shapeshifting Shenanigans]

Willa smiles.
”Well, that comes tomorrow.” she tells him, pulling the covers over them, and likely drawing the curtain on this scene.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[The Road to The Skullfort]

Morning comes soon enough, and true to his word, Corvus helps Willa down the stairs, mostly by carrying her down them in his warform. Once breakfast is out of the way, he'll let Willa lead the way to her home village, eager to see it. And, true to what he said the previous night, he does have other forms as well, including that of a massive white stallion that lets him easily keep up with her. He does use the same charm as earlier so that they can chat on the way, as well.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Road to the Skullfort]

Willa is delighted by his stallion shape, especially considering that they match in color.
"Now, magnificent rump or not you should change back once we get there. I don't want anyone to think I'm dating a horse. Where do you want to go first? The temple? The living areas?" she asks him.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[The Road to the Skullfort]

Corvus prances in that way horses do when they're showing off for a moment, before resuming his normal gait. He sounds pleased, though.

"Indeed, we wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea, after all. I think I would like to see the living areas first, if it's not too much trouble."

[Recaiden]

They're going to have to change the name someday. In theory, the Skullfort is just here temporarily, and sometime after they finish the castle on the western hill, it's going to fly away. No one is in too much of a hurry to see that happen.

The Black herd lives in a longhouse on the west side of town, between the observatory and the rookery. Made half of wood and half of solid shadows, it has an arched roof, high ceilings, plenty of doors and chimneys. Inside the space is broken up by thin room dividers, no interior walls. The furnishings - tall tables, chest of drawers, sleeping mats - are plain. Charmingly rustic, perhaps. This is, after all, a simple* farming** town. There's space for about fifty centaurs to live comfortably, though they don't have quite so many people here at the best of time.

Willa will surely get at least a handful of questions about who Corvus is.

[Deathkeeper]

[Welcome to Skullfort Town]

Once Corvus changes into a shape with hands she’ll happily tell the gossiping centaurs that Corvus is her date unless he corrects her with something else. She’ll be quite relaxed as her parents aren’t here at the moment.
Willa’s little stall is like any of the others. A sparse little thing with a soft mat to sleep on and a few belongings. The only one mildly remarkable is an electric guitar. She doesn’t seem to have an amp, though.
”So, um...this is it.” she tells him, embarrassed. Even their room at the tavern was nicer.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Welcome to Skullfort Town]

Corvus changes back to his human shape once the village comes into view, a good distance away from it. No sense in causing Willa problems, and he seems quite content that Willa describes him as her date to any of her gossiping peers. He will pay special attention to listen in on them if they whisper behind her back, but otherwise is more interested in seeing how the village works, where people live and work and eat. He takes special note of her stall, kneeling down to examine her sleeping mat closely, and smiles at her after a moment.

"It's cozy," he says, sounding pleased, then gestures towards her guitar, "You're full of surprises, too. I wasn't aware you were a musician as well."

[Recaiden]

The current topic of gossip is the fact that Willa's date is apparently human, though it's more in the sense of 'how weird' than stern disapproval. Nyx blames this fact on Willa's troubled family history, which had no proper centaur role models. But conversation quickly turns away from the visitor and towards the details of the Thanksmas decorations they're starting to hang up.
Most of the herd doesn't work here, but there are a few people busy at more sedentary tasks: weaving baskets, assembling electronics, trying to teach a little foal how to read. They work out in the fields/pastures/nearby woods.
Besides the centaurs here, most people live in their own whimsical little houses. A subset of these are sturdy, very-well-insulted stone things with too many doors. As for eating, generally that's at the feasthall (which is near the center of town, along with the temple). It's important for people to be together at mealtimes.

[Deathkeeper]

[Welcome to Skullfort Town]

"Oh, it's nothing serious. I just know how to play." she insists.
"But if you want to stay you're going to need your own place, a stall on the other side, or you can squeeze in with me in one of your smaller forms." she suggests.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Welcome to Skullfort Town]

"I can sleep where ever's best for everyone. If you'd like, I can just use one of my smaller forms with you, otherwise, I can camp out if need be, though I'd like to build a place for both of us. Would that be ok?" Corvus asks, just a tad nervously. He's not sure what sort of rules they have about building houses here, so it's probably best to ask before he starts cutting trees down or whatever.

[Deathkeeper]

[Welcome to the Skullfort Town]

Willa grins, imagining sleeping with that fluffy bunny against her. But she is a bit more nervous about moving away from her peers and into a house. It's what she desperately wants, but what will they say about her for wanting to leave them?
"Yeah, you'll just need to go to the town administration and get the city plan to make sure it works. And uh, you'd need to make it pretty big. Big hips and all." she says, bashfully waggling her rear end in his general direction.
Maybe if he got Leah's blessing he could use some of the shadowy building materials that Message provided for the longhouse.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Welcome to the Skullfort Town]

Corvus smiles, and moves over next to her, putting his arm around her upper half's waist and squeezing gently.

"No worries there, I prefer a place with plenty of room," He says gently, and his smile widens. "Where is this town administration?"

[Recaiden]

Up at the fortress, of course, home to the town's founder, fox-people, their robot companion, knights-in-training, lost divine aspects, reclusive angels, etc.
Don't try to climb up the teeth to get in. Ring the bell and wait for the steward to lower the ramp.

A collection of floating orbs humming with electricity meets anyone coming up there, in the warmly-upholstered parlor/staging area that is the mouth of the skull. This is the steward of the fortress, the machine spirit Eirikae, recently promoted to Constellation class, which apparently includes dispensation to use capital letters. Their voice reverberates in a calculated otherworldly way.
-Welcome-
-I don't think we've seen you before-
-¿How can we help?-

[Deathkeeper]

[Welcome to Skullfort Town]

Willa will lean on Corvus as they go, despite being much heavier. Unless he wishes to take a ride, which she would be happy to provide.
”He wants a permit to build a house in town.” Willa tells the steward, deciding to vouch for him.