mayfield_rpg | DEPLOYMENT 15: Be the Other Walking Nuke

[(Note: All tagbacks will be from

walking_nukebird!)]
[ACTION - A (847 Goldberg Street, Early Morning, HOUSEMATES)]

[The first thing Balin notices as he starts to wake up is that he's in some kind of cubicle, swaddled in big, fuzzy blankets. He grumbles, thinking that yet again Mayfield has kidnapped him in his sleep in preparation for its latest twisted game.]

[... Until he realizes that his grumble sounds rather bird-like.]

[And his field of vision is ... considerably wider than normal.]

[He raises up, and cranes his head around to discover that ... he's covered in feathers. Black, iridescent feathers—]

AWK!

[Were he still in his human body, Balin might have lept out of bed and reached for his sidearm ... but he's no longer Balin Wilbur. He's now Utsuho Reiuji—and considering this is the man-eating town-burning youkai he'd fought with not long ago, he's taking this predicament far worse than he might have if he were swapped with someone else.]

[So instead, the hell raven that has been spending most of the past few weeks sleeping peacefully in that box, courtesy of Virginia, is now having a night fright. It squawks in distress, its wings flap haphazardly as it tries to escape the box, crashing into one thing or another. The real Utsuho has had a lot of practice shifting between her raven and humanoid youkai forms, so much so that it doesn't require much thought to trigger the switch. Balin's panicky thoughts of wondering what happened to his human body are enough to trigger the transformation—which, for someone who never wanted to be a Polymorphing Spy, is a highly uncomfortable and horrifying sensation.]

[By the end of it, "Utsuho" flops onto the bedroom floor chest-first. Coming to "her" senses after a few seconds, "Utsuho" pushes "herself" up, but "her" now much larger wings are all ruffled and splayed everywhere, and there's a lot of "her" shorter feathers floating about in the air.]

What—WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!

[That yell is loud enough to be heard throughout the house, easily.]

[ACTION - B (Anywhere in Mayfield, Morning/Afternoon, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Utsuho spends a lot of her time flying around in the air, but today she apparently is preferring to walk around town. She seems a bit clumsy and cautious, though—Balin is having difficulty adjusting to a woman's bone structure and center of gravity. Especially since this particular woman isn't even human. Aaand also much taller than he is.]

[Sometimes you might see "Utsuho" looking down at "her" chest and muttering or even angrily talking out loud. Like "she's" arguing with someone.]

[ACTION - C (Downtown Mayfield, Afternoon, OPEN TO ALL)]

"Go on, you mangy mutt! Get out of here! Shoo! Shoo!"

Hey! I'm not a mutt! What's the big idea—

["Utsuho" just tried to enter a store and got pushed out by a drone armed with a broom. With one last shove, "she" stumbles out the door. As the drone slams the door shut, "Utsuho" turns around to look back at the store with "her" hands on "her" hips.]

—Dammit, every store is doing this to me!

[Ah, the joys of finding out Mayfield considers you a "pet."]

[ACTION - D (John Doe Park, Afternoon/Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

["Utsuho" is currently trying to figure out how to fly. Flight is an ubiquitous ability among Gensokyo's denizens, even if they have no biological ability to do so—but Balin doesn't know that, and so he assumes the only way he can fly as Utsuho is through wing power alone. In fairness, wingspan is one of several things in which Utsuho's body is well-endowed.]

[Flying with wings is a learned skill, though, even for birds—and having never been a bird before, Balin is clumsily trying to imitate what he's seen the real Utsuho and other, normal birds do with their wings. Instead, "Utsuho" ends up flailing "her" wings much like a Killdeer faking a broken wing. Sometimes "she's" lucky with a jump and gets airborne for a few seconds, "her" wings fluttering spastically before "she" falls back down. And "she's" not too graceful about that, either.]

[ACTION - E (Makeout Point, Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Well, if he's going to be stuck inside the hell raven's body for a while, there's one thing Balin can take advantage of for the time being.]

[Up at Makeout Point, "Utsuho" is armed with "her" control rod, and judging from the light show and miniature suns over there, "she's" practicing with "her" powers. Yet unlike her murderous rampage back in March, "she" seems to be taking to aim up at the sky, away from Mayfield. "She's" even trying to avoid setting any trees on fire.]

[But it doesn't look like "she" has a good handle on it, because there are stray fireballs every once in a while.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah.

I blew her arm off when she was going on that rampage last month.

You were able to do that?

[While she has a vague idea of the powers of nuclear explosions, she had no idea that Balin was this powerful.]

What is she, exactly?

Yeah ... I didn't think it would have been that easy considering what I've seen her do, but Lightning stunned her pretty easy. And then all it took was a shotgun at point-blank range when she wouldn't stand down.

["Utsuho" pauses for a beat, one of her wings twitching outward.]

SHe's ... At my house, right now. Wearing my body.

I see. Then she is capable of sentience?

[Huh ... odd question. Then again, Utsuho didn't exactly seem capable of rational thought the day she was burning the town down. And after spending this much time inside her body, now Balin knows exactly why her voice sounded different when she did speak.]

She normally is. Even when she's a bird.

Is she some form of demon or familiar?

Yeah. Animal youkai thing, I've been told. Hell raven specifically.

["Utsuho" points to her chest, specifically, to that eye. Remember it, Bazett? It looks good as new now.]

Except, uh, for this.

[... And the eye is now looking at her.]

[She nods.]

No wonder she was so powerful...

[She winces a little bit at the eye's stare.]

Is that an eye?

Yeah. Part of the god she swallowed. Or divine crow, whatever. That much I've figured out.

A...god.

[For a moment, she has been stunned into silence. Only now does she realize how lucky she had been to only have been knocked out during her previous fight with Utsuho.]

Has this Utsuho shown any inclination to go on a rampage while in your body?

Um ... so far? She's just been sleeping.

["Utsuho" scratches the back of her head and glances away.]

And I kinda knocked her out on accident ...

Then you will probably have to watch her carefully if she wakes up.

Yeah ... And ... maybe apologize, too.

I forgot she's strong enough to throw cars ...

If you want, I could help you a little, though this body is much weaker than what I am used to.

—Huh? Oh—Oh! No, it's not like that, it's ...

[Boy does "Utsuho" look embarrassed. Blushing and everything!]

I knocked out my real body when she threw a pillow at me and I threw it back. She ... I mean, this body is really strong.

It seems you are able to restrain your strength for the time being. Perhaps you should just try not to touch anything for the rest of the day.

Maybe so ...

Ugh, this is like a nightmare.

At least you are stronger. I am much weaker and have to worry about someone running amok in my real body.

You haven't found it yet, right? Your real body?

No, not yet. I am not even sure if I will recognize it once I see it, seeing how the person occupying it will surely behave and dress differently than I do.

Are you sure? I mean I don't think I've seen many people with the hair color you had. That would narrow it down, right?

Yes, it would. And there is always the chance that she would recognize my current body as hers. I just hope that she has not panicked...

I wouldn't blame anybody for panicking right now. Especially if they, like, wound up switching with someone of another gender, or somebody who ain't even human.

["Utsuho" puts a hand to "her" stomach.]

Or if they've got someone else sharing the body with them ...

[Bazett visibly blanches at the statement.]

...Balin, I really have to go now. I have to find some way to calm my body down, if not reverse this process.

["Utusho's" Yatagarasu eye is still watching "Sakura" pretty intently.]

Alright, uh—good luck with finding her.

(no subject)

magi_punches - 2012-04-14 19:04 (UTC) - Expand