August Closed Prompts

[sereneadherent]

🧙 WHO: Marianne and various Avalon denizens
⚔️️ WHAT: Closed threads for August, including Marianne's grand plan to avoid being murdered and her first ever therapy session!
🕒 WHEN: Throughout the month
🗺️ WHERE: Hotel; homes of various CR; Maruki's office
⚠️ WARNINGS: some Shit is probably going to come up in the therapy thread--will update as needed.

Comments

cat time! (closed to previous CR)

[sereneadherent]

[Marianne von Edmund is not much of a schemer, but that doesn't mean she's incapable of dreaming one up and putting it to practice when she needs to. Since someone put a hit out on animal mages on the Dark Web, this situation definitely qualifies as "needs to." Honestly, the whole thing hits a very sour note with her. She's been pursued over similar reasons for the better part of her life--to have to deal with it again brings up no shortage of resentment on her part.

The plan itself is simple enough: she's going into hiding until this blows over. Since her swim with the mossatee, she's been practicing her animal magic with some frequency. She's learned how to transform with clothes still attached to her body (well... so far she can only manage it with a full-body leotard, but that's better than being nude). In smaller animals, she's also mastered the art of not being an obvious shade of blue when she changes.

So she's decided to be a domestic cat while she's out and about. That way, she can walk around with relative inpunity, since people let their cats out all the time. She won't even look that out of place in the stables with Dorte, since cats frequent them for shade and prey.

Of course, this plan wouldn't have been possible without her co-conspirator: one of the young women who works the front desk at the hotel. She's Marianne's favorite of the employees there, always kind and eager to go above and beyond to assist. She helps Marianne figure out how to send a group text to just people she knows, and she agrees to attach the collar that Marianne has purchased to help her friends identify her after she changes. Marianne will have to make it up to her, despite the insistence that no such thing is necessary.

Once everything is in place, she sents out the message.]

Hello everyone,

If you cannot get a hold of me, please don't be alarmed. I'm using my animal magic to hide until this it is safe to walk around as an animal mage again.

If you see a gray cat with green eyes and a blue collar hanging around your home, please know that it is me. The breed is called Russian Blue, and it's the most natural coloring I can manage with my current skill level.

[What is "Russian"? Heck if she knows, but that's what it's is.]

Thank you,
-Marianne

[Once that's sent, she sets her phone away, transforms, gets the aforementioned light blue collar with bell, and heads out.

She can be found in one of several places:

1. Hanging around outside the homes of various friends throughout the city
2. In the stables curled up next to Dorte, the diminuative warhorse
3. Under someone's bed because she got spooked by something and broke into their house to hide
4. Etc. (wildcard option!)]

[gunmettle]

[ When Juzo gets her message, he has to pause a moment and think “well, that’s one way to go about it”. Marianne doesn’t seem like the type to want anyone to hover over her, fretting all the time, so while he thought to offer his services as a bodyguard, this suits her much better.

(He’ll still absolutely deck anyone who tries to lay a hand on her, though.)

His only reply is a quick text back: ]

Got a new place. You’re free to crash there anytime, cat or not.

[ Which is accompanied by the location of his new office, a one room affair above a warehouse on the edge of town. The door tends to be locked unless Juzo is in, but there’s a nice, sunny landing for her to lounge on in the meantime. Or a whole warehouse to explore, if she wants. ]

[sereneadherent]

[Juzo is probably one of the most qualified people to guard her, but Marianne feels bad asking him to do so. He's already gone out of his way to help her twice in the past month, and even though she's already repaid him with the agreed-upon coffee (and company) she still doesn't want to put him out yet again.

The invitation from him is unexpected--her intention with the text was merely informational, and the part about hanging around was more intended for the likes of Claude and others whose homes she's been to. She isn't like Hilda, manipulating by digging for enough sympathy that the favor is offered rather than asked for.

However, the invitation is welcomed all the same and Marianne decides to honor it. One visit should be fine, especially if she remains well-hidden. So therefore, one afternoon Juzo will return to his office to find a gray-blue cat curled up asleep on his landing.]

[gunmettle]

[ Juzo is still kind of settling in, but thankfully, he doesn’t need more than a desk and a couple of chairs to be able to run his business.

Well, and maybe some food and other essentials. His first couple nights in the office showed him he was woefully unprepared, and so he stepped out to do a bit of shopping. There’s a nice fat stripe of sunlight painting itself over his landing by the time he returns, bags in his arms.

A good place to take a nap, if you’re a cat. The instant he spots her, he can’t help but let out a low chuckle. ]

Enjoying yourself, Marianne?

[ If that’s not her, then boy, is he gonna feel foolish. He lets a couple of the grocery bags drift from his arms, held aloft by his kinetic magic as he reaches over to unlock the door and push it open. ]

[sereneadherent]

[The noise gets Marianne to open her eyes and peer up at him. Juzo's already incredibly tall, and even moreso from a vantage point so much lower than her usual 5'4". If not for the familiarity of his voice and presence, she's not sure she could have identified him--the most obvious tell is too high and blocked by the rest of him and the grocery bags.

Marianne stretches, then rises with a groggy mew as he opens the door. She sits and waits politely for him to go inside before trotting in after him--it'd be awful, and probably painful, for him to trip over her. She's a guest, and is therefore endeavors to be on her best behavior.

Whether making her way over to his desk and jumping up onto it counts as "best behavior" is debatable. But that's what she does.]

[gunmettle]

[ Well, no need for him to worry he's got the wrong feline. This cat is too damn polite to be anyone other than Marianne. He holds the door open for her, and once she's skittered inside (and made her home on his desk, apparently) lets it swing shut.

Juzo himself wanders to the kitchenette, piling bags of groceries on the small counter space. Some of the bags end up having to go on the coffee table while he sorts things. ]

You can change back if you wanna... uh, if clothes aren't gonna be an issue, I mean. You're safe here, promise.

[sereneadherent]

[Marianne sits on her newfound perch for a bit, watching Juzo unload his shopping for a few moments before deciding to take him up on his offer to not be a cat all afternoon. She hops down to the far side of the desk, hiding behind it as she pulls on her magic to return to her human form.

(She doesn't actually know what the transformation process looks like, and is eager to spare people the spectacle just in case it's horrific.)

Soon, Marianne peeks up over the desk before standing up and stretching. She isn't nude this time, clad in a high-necked unitard that's form-fitting by necessity but otherwise quite modest. Her hair is let down, which gives her plenty of waves to hide her figure behind as needed.]

Thank you.

[She looks around, taking the new scenery in.]

When did you move into here?

[gunmettle]

[ While Marianne sorts herself out, Juzo goes back to unpacking his groceries. It still surprises him just how easy it is to come by fresh food – where he’s from, most everything is dried or boxed or processed so heavily you can’t be sure of what you were really eating. If you wanted fresh, you either had to be rich or part of the mob.

Here in Camelot, it’s everywhere and everything. Even the boxed shit tastes better. At this rate, he might never be able to go back to the sludge they call coffee in the Kyusei Pit.

He casts a careful glance over his shoulder, and almost seems relieved when he sees Marianne standing there, fully clothed. That her clothes are a leotard doesn’t seem to bother him – he’s seen worse. ]

Few days ago. I’m mostly settled in apart from, well… [ he motions at all the stuff on the counter. ]

Glad you came by. I figured you could use some space away from all the crazies out there.

[sereneadherent]

[As a person, Marianne takes the much more polite step of sitting in a chair rather than his desk. She'd offer to help put the groceries away, but a. the kitchenette doesn't have much space for two people to work in, and b. she's still pretty bad at that sort of thing despite trying her best to improve. It's better for both of them that she stay out of his way.

Instead, she looks around the office to take it in. It's simple, which doesn't surprise her.]

Are you living here as well? I don't see a bed...

[Although it could be hidden from view, for all she knows.]

And thank you. I'm not *too* surprised that people are heeding the call, but I don't understand the reasoning of the request itself. There have to be less violent ways to handle... that sort of issue....

1-ish

[hegemonwings]

[ byleth sees the message, of course. she only responds with a location ping of her and edelgard's new house, and gets in the habit of leaving a kitchen window facing the backyard cracked, just in case. marianne being around the house in the form of a cat might confuse the kitten, but it's more hospitable than just leaving her out there if she chooses to come by.

in the coming days, she hears aloysius meowing at something in the guest bedroom one afternoon, and pokes her head in. ]

What do you see? [ the question comes gently indulgent as byleth bends down and scratches at the kitten's ears, before lowering herself to the floor and peering under the bed. well. that'd do it. ]

Marianne?

[ this other cat fits the description she said to expect, at least. ]

[sereneadherent]

[This other cat is, in fact, Marianne. She may or may not be hiding from the kitten that she didn't expect to find here. Nevermind that the kitten is currently a quarter of her size--it spooked her, and now here they both are.

She responds to her name with a rather pathetic, soft meow.]

[hegemonwings]

[ byleth huffs out a quiet laugh, new wolf ears twitching and longer canines showing, before extending a hand to her. ]

It's all right. This is just Aloysius. El and I brought him home after we moved in. [ the kitten purrs against byleth, before turning his attention to marianne. ]

Are you hungry?

[sereneadherent]

[Please don't laugh, she's just a poor defenseless cat who barely knows what she's doing.

Marianne creeps out from her hiding spot and gives Aloysius a tentative sniff, feeling him out before letting herself relax too much. In hindsight, perhaps a cat was not the best decision for this escapade after all--her own nervous tendencies make the creature's instincts feel much more immediate, especially in situations like this one.]

[hegemonwings]

[ look, that laugh was mostly just because this is really cute. despite everything.

aloysius sniffs at marianne in return, but he's docile and Baby enough that he likely wouldn't pick up on anything strange anyway. the kitten pads closer, gently headbutting marianne and meowing once. the fact his mom seems to be cool with all of this is going a long way.

byleth feels her new (and incredibly annoying) tail start to wag behind her as she watches all of this, and... chooses to ignore it! even as it strikes the floor in gentle thumps. ]

You're always welcome here, Marianne. [ byleth reaches out, tentatively, to place her fingertips in position to give marianne Chin Scritches. if she's amenable. she knows that she may not have ever had marianne's level of insight with animals, but she's always been good with cats, at least. ]

[sereneadherent]

[Marianne the cat visibly relaxes when she receives an affectionate headbutt from the kitten. She responds by rubbing her face into his a bit, since that's a thing that cats do. The soft thump causes her to startle a bit, although she quickly identifies the source. It seems that poor Byleth's curse isn't limited to her ears and canines. Marianne makes a note to offer her sympathy once she decides to turn human again in the safety of her friends' home.

She has every intention of trotting off to the closet to change back. However, once she receives Chin Scritches she just kind of lets her brain turn off for a few minutes, flops onto the floor, and starts purring instead. Nevermind, being a housecat is amazing and turning into a person again can wait. ♥ ]

[flame_emperor]

"Byleth?" Edelgard pokes her head through the door. Unusually, her hair is completely down, not even in the usual sidetail that has become her official casual hairstyle, though it is looking more...feathery than usual. "Something the matter?" She'd been in there awhile. Had Aloysius been misbehaving? The kitten was an absolute delight, but at the same time Edelgard was getting the impression he'd quickly started to figure out just how spoiled he was, and was proving to be willing to use that to his advantage.

But the situation becomes clear enough quickly. "Ah, I didn't realize we had a guest. Hello, Marianne." The cat looks enough like the description they'd been given, and Byleth had been leaving a window open just in case. "Enjoying yourself, I see."

It's possible she's referring to all three of the other room's residents, not just Marianne.

[hegemonwings]

Oh, this is delightful. Her smile widens at Marianne's reaction and she redoubles the attention, lightly petting around the cat's ears as well. This is... odd, but it's clear Marianne enjoys the attention, and she's happy to provide it.

Byleth perks up immediately at the sound of Edelgard's voice, looking like nothing so much as—well, an excited puppy, to be honest. With her other hand, she starts petting Aloysius too, and the kitten arches his back and leans his head up against her. "I may have gotten sidetracked, El," Byleth finally says, smiling at her. She glances back to Marianne, amused. "If you want to change back while you're here, I have some clothes that should fit you."

[silky_bearing]

[Lorenz isn't entirely sure what is going on to make her feel she needs to hide (dark web? he's barely figured out there's a regular web.) He does suppose, though, that if she's a cat she won't have her phone so he does not answer exactly but he does make a point of leaving a window cracked in his hotel room to allow her to slip in easily if she so desires.

Which is why he doesn't even realize she's there at first when he returns to his room after breakfast one morning. His jacket gets slung over the back of the desk chair and he works his boots off to set them aside under the desk. Then he sinks onto the bed, sliding a thick leather journal off the side table. Until she does something to get his attention it seems he's content to perch on the edge of the bed, paging through the book and scribbling down notes here and there.

As he works he does, occasionally mutter things to himself. Words or phrases, nothing that really makes any kind of sense, though.]

Star... showers? no. hmm.... broken? or falling.... ugh, predictable.

[sereneadherent]

[Marianne has nothing to gain by hiding, so once he's settled she approaches and meows to announce her presence. Her voice as a cat is no more forceful than her voice as a person, the bell on her collar making more noise during her approach than her pitiful mew she makes.

Once it's clear that he knows she's here, she curls up next to him. After the experience she's had with Darin, human contact in her animal form feels a lot less weird and strange, and this way she can spend time with him without interrupting what he's doing. She doesn't look at the journal, although even if she does there's no danger of her being able to read it. While her mind certainly knows how to read, her cat eyes are so ill-suited to it that it's not worth the trouble.

Besides, it's clearly private. Marianne has no interest in using this power to snoop around.]

[silky_bearing]

[Lorenz doesn't actually hear her at first, that tiny little mew hardly enough to draw his attention away from the jumble of thoughts that he doesn't know how to convey. Not in the slightest. When he does finally look up he looks startled before he remembers.]

Oh! Marianne.... I do hope you're alright?

[Something he assumes is correct because she curls against his hip and he immediately responds as he would with any cat, long fingers stroking her fur. It's only once he's done it that he jerks his hand back.]

Ah, my apologies. I shouldn't have assumed.

[sereneadherent]

[Marianne closes her eyes and starts to purr when Lorenz reaches for her, but she comes back to attention when he stops. She appreciates his concern for her boundaries, although she's hardly surprised. That's been a foundation for their friendship for quite some time now.

However, what self-consciousness she might have had about being petted was obliterated by Darin literally wrestling her as a mossatee. Being touched as an animal isn't nearly as weird as being touched as a human, as long as she doesn't dwell too much on it.

Unable to communicate this in words, Marianne instead gives Lorenz another meow and an affectionate headbutt to his leg to encourage him to continue.]

[silky_bearing]

[He smiles softly, chuckling just a little as he returns his hand to her fur, stroking along her back gently. A soft scritch between her ears and then he simply rests his hand on her, fingers massaging gently, her form so small that his long fingers let him cover nearly the whole length of her body with his hand. ]

I imagine it's nice to be able to separate yourself from things occasionally. Spend a day lazing about, no more worries than a normal cat.

[Free to do what they want here, to relax, to enjoy themselves... supposedly one doesn't have to be a cat for that. He sighs a little, shaking his head dismissively and turning his attention back to his journal. It feels strangely rude, though, not speaking to her. As though he should be entertaining her while she visits. ]

[sereneadherent]

[Good, he got the message. Now that Lorenz is petting her again, Marianne has no problem getting comfortable and laying her head down with a gentle purr. He has the right of it--there is something calming about being able to just exist as a cat and not having to worry about the myriad of stresses of her life as a person. While her primary reasoning is to avoid being murdered, there's a bit of escapism in this as well. As a cat, she feels free to let go of the lingering concerns that plague her after the Hall of Mirrors, if only for a little while.

He turns back to his journal, and Marianne contents herself with the expectation that they'll simply exist in each other's company. It wouldn't be the first time they've done so, although usually she's not a cat.]

[silky_bearing]

[It's not the first time which is the only reason he lets himself simply pet her with one hand. He knows he doesn't have to play host for her but... still... it's difficult. He goes about scribbling in his journal some more, still mumbling to himself occasionally. That's simply how it is for the better part of an hour.

Eventually he shifts, though, carefully supporting the sleepy feline as he stands up. A momentary stretch and then he glances down at her on his bed, smiling softly.]

I'm covered in ink... let me clean up and I'll bring you some water.

[His pages are too damp to continue writing and the ink is beginning to stain his fingers. It takes him a bit to get most off the ink off his hands and wash his quill. Once he's done he fills one of the Styrofoam coffee cups with cool water and brings it back to the nightstand.

There you go.

[Though he can't help look back to his journal reassessing the words there over and again. ]

closed to Maruki because ~doctor/patient privileges~

[sereneadherent]

thread here in Maruki's clinic post