Chapter 12 - From CAST to Cat

[photonicfighter]

[Action A - 458 Stone Street, Morning]

[Waking up in the morning is usually a quick, power-up-and-go affair for Dakki. But this morning was that slow, sleepy, gummy-eyed organic kind of feeling... which immediately had her worried. Had her body been taken away again? But it soon became clear that this wasn't even that poor human substitute body that Mayfield had given her.

She had ears. And tails. And she was shorter. Oh dear.]


AAAAH! What the heck is going on!?

[Have yourself a panicky nekomata, household. And probably a panicky android somewhere upstairs, too.]

[Action B - Around Town]

[Okay, okay. It wasn't so bad being Chen. It was actually kind of neat and different. Because she could float! And also, possibly do that danmaku-spellcard-whee-lotsa-projectiles stuff. So perhaps you'll catch her flying around with a big silly grin on her face. Or maybe you'll have to dodge some stray, wimpy, half-assed little energy bullet things.]



Oops! Ah! I'm sorry! Didn't mean to... really! Hee...

[No wonder Chen was in such good spirits all the time. It was fun to be Chen.]

(Replies will be coming from castnip!)

Comments

Action A

[nanocerancowboy]

[Whatever's happened to everyone in Mayfield, it hasn't affected Gat. He's been up and around throughout the night. In fact, he was in the garage at the moment Chen called out in panic. So, he comes back inside and pokes his head into the living room.]

Chen? Everything alright?

[castnip]

[It's Gat! It's Gat! She has to go see Gat! Gat'll... if not know what to do, at least be sympathetic towards this latest turn of exasperating events.]

Gat!

[She tries to hop down from the couch, but kind of stumbles and staggers on short and unfamiliar legs.]

Woah! Okay... okay... I'm not gonna fall... I...

[Then she sees him, and her eyes go WIDE.]

Wow, you're HUGE from down here!

[nanocerancowboy]

[HE IS ALWAYS HUGE. ]

[At the moment, Gat has no idea that Dakki might be in Chen's body. To him, Chen just seems to be acting ... strange. Maybe a little high. Or low, as the case may be.]

... You didn't get into anythin' you shouldn't have, didja?

[She could have easily OD'd on catnip for all he knows.]

I will love you forever for posting that image :3

[castnip]

Gaaaaat! [She squares her shoulders and gives a displeased little huff.]

I'm not supposed to be Chen! I'm Dakki! Really! Mayfield's doing strange things again!

But you do really look pretty large from all the way down here...

I aim to please! :D

[nanocerancowboy]

... Dakki?

[Gat rubs the back of his head. He knows the town loves playing mind games and doing horrible physical things to its "citizens," but even so, he has a hard time believing the town put Dakki in Chen's body.]

[Still, he'll approach "Chen" and kneel down in front of her, in a military "take a knee" fashion.]

... How do I know th' town's not jus' playin' tricks on my head again? Like back in December?

[Seems to be an invitation to provide proof.]

[castnip]

[Dakki-Chen straightens herself up in a fashion that's similar to Dakki's usual posture. But that's a pretty subtle thing.]

That's a really good question. And you should probably be asking it... but it's me! Really. Ask me things about home.

[She looked very confident in her ability to answer.]

[nanocerancowboy]

[Kind of getting there ... though it looks more like Chen trying to imitate Dakki. All it'd take is one "Nyaa!" to break that effect.]

[Gat looks down for a moment to think of something. Preferably something they'd not yet talked about since being in Mayfield, at least in front of Chen. ... Oh, wait, that should work!]

Who were th' former Hunters we usually worked with in th' GUARDIANS?

B

[stupidsexydate]

Whoop, that's okay. I wasn't looking where I was going. [Oh hey have a Date in Shana's body.]

[castnip]

That's no excuse! Aaah, I'm not used to firing these things... I wonder how Chen makes it all look so nice and pretty...

[Shana wasn't someone she was familiar with, alas. All the more reason to dip down from her float, set her feet on the ground, and give a little bow-curtsey of apology.]

[stupidsexydate]

[A blink.] You got switched as well?

[castnip]

I did!

...wait, you're switched, too? [A counter-blink.] Then... who're you for real? I'm Dakki. Um. Dakki Sigal. Maybe you haven't met me yet...?

[stupidsexydate]

[Her face erupts into a wide grin.] Ah! Dakki-chan! It's Date! What a twist of fate huh?

[castnip]

Date! Oh! It's you! It's been too long!

[And she flings herself in at him for a hug... but as she's still not good at flying, she judges the distance wrong and goes sailing past him, instead.] Uwaaah!

A

[hersuvisakotatsu]

Unyaaaaaaaaaa!

(Chen was so tall now! This was trippy, man; cats weren't supposed to be this tall...at least, Chen wasn't supposed to be. No flying meant she'd have to walk everywhere again, but it couldn't be too bad...right?)

Dakkiiiiiiiiiii! How long have you been this tall?!

(She's still upstairs, too.)

[castnip]

[Oh. Oh, was that her voice coming from upstairs? And was it making kitty noises?

Now things suddenly made an alarming amount of sense.]

I'm coming! I'm coming, Chen!

[And the CAST in a nekomata's body stumble-ran her way up the stairs, tripping once but recovering with gritted teeth and determination. Up to the bedroom, into the bedroom, and...]

...wow! I'm huge, too!

[hersuvisakotatsu]

I know! It's amazing! You can reach those really high shelves without flying!

(She's trying to walk, but Chen's not used to having long legs like dakki has...well, longer than her own, at least.)

Are you used to walking like this? It's so hard!

(Watching Chen walk like this is like watching what happens to measuring tape get rolled out for too long without support; she kind of flops and falls over on her back.)

I have to walk without tails! That's haaaaaaaard!

[castnip]

Walking like that? What about walking like this!? [She points down to the much shorter, much smaller legs that are now hers.]

And the tails make me all off-balance! Oof, I don't know how you do it!

[They've gone from panic to protesting, which seems alright with her for now... so she awkwardly makes it to the bed and climbs on it, so she can at least be at eye level with... herself.

Then comes the tumble, and she's leaning off the side of the bed, staring down at her.]

Aaah, be careful with me!

[hersuvisakotatsu]

I'm sorry! I'm not used to being tall! Or without my tail!

(And she manages to stand up and carefully flop on the bed.)

It's like walking on stilts!

[castnip]

I do have pretty long legs... that's a holdover from being a HUcaseal, I think.

[She manages to shift herself about so she's sitting next to the flopped out Dakki-Chen.]

You'll get the hang of it! And so will I. We just have to go slow. And... and I'm sure we won't be stuck like this for long.

[No, she wasn't actually sure at all, but she was trying to be encouraging.]

B

[godaime]

[ Tsunade, an evasive expert, evades the attack by casually sidestepping it. She's just been dedroned after a month of housewifing, and, she wasn't quite pleased. But, now, she has an opportunity to gain Even More Information. This opportunity shan't go wasted! ]

It's quite all right. I suppose we all start somewhere. [ Her face settles into a cautious glance. ] What type of attack was that anyways? [ Energy bullets? What type of energy was this? How was this harnessed? Leave it to Tsunade to be curious about everything. ]

[castnip]

Oh!

[Dakki-Chen quickly closes the space between herself and the previously-droned neighbor, happy but surprised. And completely ignoring the question at first.]

It's you! The... one who asked about sandwiches! You're here! And up and around! And not droned!

[Oh, oh wait, there WERE questions, weren't there...]

That was danmaku! Er, that's what Chen calls it... They're pretty energy bullets!

[godaime]

[ With the vague mention about the sandwiches, Tsunade's already pieced together the information she needs. So, this one is another swapped person. ]

Of course it's me. It looks like I'm finally deroned now. I'm glad you're able to recognize me.

[ She stares at the wispy impacts a bit skeptically before looking back up at Dakki, totally confused. ]

Just what type of energy is it? Like solar or just pure energy?

[castnip]

I'm glad you're back! ...er, well, not so much that you're here, because it's not a very nice place. But I'm happy to see you again!

[Oh, why was everything coming out wrong today? She was happy to move the conversation along.]

Um... I'm not sure. Some sort of spiritual energy, I think! I'll have to ask Chen when I see her again.

[godaime]

I understand what you're saying. It's always a positive thing to see a friend again, even if the circumstances aren't particularly loved.

[ Tsunade has to deal with all types of people! She's the master at getting the gist of things. ]

Make sure you find out for me. It seems to have some sort of fire or lightning thing to it, but it could just be energy scorching the sidewalk.

[castnip]

I suppose you can quiz Chen about it when she's back in her right body and I'm back in mine! [She laughs lightly.]

Energy projecting isn't usually my thing... give me a nice saber or gun any day, and I'm happy.