kollo_rpg | A Day (2) In the Life

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A Day (2) In the Life

Viola is... not a sun person. When the notice dings on her communicator, it stirs her out of her sleep, and she unfortunately rolls right into view of a sun beam. With a groan, she knows getting any more sleep before the rest of the day is lost. She thought she'd have to call up one of her maids, but she then remembered--she's not home. No one to wait on her. That's fair, she should be doing things on her own, after all. She would have liked being able to sleep in more, she might need to get some thicker curtains.

After taking a moment to collect herself, Viola decides to head out towards the commons for breakfast. Not too many people around, so she opted to simply eat and leave, unless interrupted. She wanted to get a feel for the island and start exploring it. Her goals for today is to get into some more comfortable seasonal clothing (or make her own), then tour as much of the island as possible in between lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, her first stop is the general store. Judging by her regular, gothic outfit, Viola's still looking for dark clothes... just lighter fabrics. The clothes here are very different though, and she has a critical eye on each of them. Many of them look very nice... just not on her. Alabaster skin and pitch-black hair tended to be tricky to match with pastel colors, in her opinion.

Once she manages to find something suitable, she decided to go tour the library. She'd like to go hiking, but she also realized that it was pretty hot outside, and she'd roast! So she decided to explore the library for a little while. The books are very interesting, telling tales of worlds so far off she can scarcely imagine them. She seemed the most drawn to fantasy, thrillers and horror, as they're a little more familiar to her world. If not perturbed, she'll probably fall asleep during the early afternoon, rousing from slumber a little before dinner.

It's sunset before she ventures outside. And it's fairly late too, so Viola felt that perhaps it was safe to shed her wings and go flying, looking for points of interest, like the ones outlined on her map. In the darkness of night, Viola felt a little more free, and perhaps a bit more bold, in exploring the island, though she would take care not to heedlessly run into anything resembling a water lily. Well, she'd recognize anything dangerous on sight, right? Well, nothing like a learning experience!

[[Catch-all post for Viola's second day. Feel free to poke her at any point. Know that she's a raven-harpy, and she's only showing evidence of this at night.]]

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Oh! He hasn't seen anything yet. Still a little suspicious of what he'd think of her, she remained somewhat hidden, but answered him nonetheless.

"Yeah! I'm alright! I didn't expect to see anyone out here." Okay, that might give it away, but that also means she can just get any disappointment over with! If he's not scared of bird people then that means she no longer needed to hide.

He's already started moving cautiously towards the tree, propelled by a instinctive mixture of curiosity and protectiveness. When she speaks again, the scales tip towards curiosity because a) that sounds like she is what he saw flying and b) she doesn't sound like she's threatening anyone else.

"Not used to having so many people around on the island?" he asks easily, assuming she must be a native of Norrhamn since he didn't notice any winged people on the boat, and he feels he probably would have done. Shapeshifter hasn't quite crossed his mind yet.

Viola gave his answer a little thought. "I'd say that, but that would imply I'm a native of this island." It was time. She was ready to show herself to the man... it would work out.

Cautiously, she descended with a gentle flap of the wings. Jack would finally see why he saw flying: a woman with pitch black hair and wings for arms would land somewhere to his side. Her legs were dark gray and scaly, but the majority of her body remained humanoid. Amber eyes seemed to shine even in the darkness. "Hello proper. And you are...?"

Ah. His eyebrows went up, because that meant she must have been on the boat the day before, and then they went up some more, his eyes widening, as she finally came into view.

"Wow! Hello, gorgeous!" he grinned, taking it all in in one long, appraising, appreciative gaze.

Then he remembered there'd been a question there. "Captain Jack Harkness," he said warmly. "And who are you?"

And what was she, but he'd start with who!

Wait, was he flirting?

Now, Viola had no illusions about looking good, but much of that had been when humans only saw her as human. While she had people who didn't mind or even embraced her harpy form, no regular human ever flirted with her knowing she was a harpy out of the gate. Thus she stood there holding her arms to her mouth for a moment, utterly taken in surprise.

She almost forgot her manners. "Oh! I'm Viola Avelide. It's one of the few hours it's dark enough that I can fly freely. Black seems to be a heat magnet from the sun, I'm afraid."

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say, and anyway for Jack it was sometimes less about looking classically beautiful and more about being something unusual, something excitingly different.

Yes, he was flirting.

He grinned, warmly amused by how taken aback she looked. "Nice to meet you, Viola Avelide! That sounds frustrating! So, I take it this is your true form and during the day you hide out looking like a human?"

Which would explain not having noticed her before.

Feeling a weight lift off of her shoulders, Viola let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“More or less,” Viola answered. “Though truth be told, it isn’t all about the disguise. I’ve worn human outfits for so long that I’m rather fond of them.” If she could switch freely, she’d probably take this form on cooler days where she’d be allowed to fly. “I’m so dark though that I’ll just soak up the sun and overheat, so that’s also why I take the time to fly at night.”

"Well, that kinda sucks, doesn't it?" he reflected, thinking of all the vampires he'd known (and in particular Spike, with whom he was still in an on-again, off-again threeway relationship) and their similar problems with sunlight. "At least you can go out in the sun, I guess? Even if you can't fly in it?"

He took another step closer, taking another, better look at her. "So what are you? I've never seen anything quite like you!"

"Well of course, I'm not a vampire, or afflicted with vampirism," Viola answered. "The sun isn't as warm back home for most of the year like it is here."

"I'm what's considered a changeling species," she pressed a feather-clad arm to her chest. "More specifically, a raven harpy. The changelings were the name given to all the humanoid but non-human species that populate my world, since almost all of them were the result of fae meddling, and even curses. There's a lot of humans who don't like us because of that, believing us to be cursed, or agents for the fae. As a result, I have to be cautious even where humans are fond of changelings."

"Humanoid but non-human..." he murmurs, somewhat intrigued by this rather succinct way of putting it. It almost applies to his own condition. He's human, or at least he was to begin with, before he became imbued with the force of the time vortex and cursed to live for the rest of eternity ~~(or possibly end up as a giant head in a jar)~~.

"By fae, you mean... fairies?" he asks, rather warily since he's had his own dealings with fairies and he's well aware they're not necessarily the pretty, benevolent creatures most humans believe them to be.

"Yes," Viola answered. She recognized that look, the one who knew--or at least could understand--the truth about fae. "I take it you're thinking of the cute butterfly humanoids averaging several inches tall... those aren't the only forms they take, but they all share a common ancestor like that. I bet you know that they're far more capricious and dangerous than they appear, I bet?"

She gave a sort of knowing, slightly mirthless smile. "The ones back home maintain nature, and many aren't pleased with human progress and technology."

"Oh yeah, I had some nasty dealings with some a few years back. Tried to entice a human child away to join them, and killed anyone who tried to get in their way."

Even if said child had actually wanted to join them, and in the end he'd had to let her. It had been the price he'd had to pay, to keep the world safe from them, at least for a while.

He pursed his lips, echoing her mirthless smile. "So when you say you're the result of fae meddling, do you mean your great-grandmother was one of them, or something a little more sinister?"

"Mmmm, my mother is a harpy," Viola answered. "As far as she knows about her lineage, harpies, even us ravens, go way back, even before the great Rage that supposedly created a lot of changeling species, and that was... thousands of years ago." She shrugged. "My father is a human, but apparently a mother's blood overruns anything when it comes to children, so there's really no such thing as a halfling. But then again, I can't say I'm an expert on genetics."

"That sounds a lot like the Unseelie in our world, though there are Seelie who aren't above antics like that," Viola remarked. "The Unseelie are... well, let's just say the difference between them and a demon is their birthplace."

"Oh, yeah, definitely similar to the Unseelie," he agreed, nodding. "Which... may or may not be what those creatures I dealt with actually are. There are all sorts of mythical names for them in my world, but I've no idea which ones are actually real. All I know is they've been there for a really long time, and they're... not nice."

He still thinks about Jasmine, and all the other children they'd taken over the millennia. Wondering if there could have been some way to save them, and all the lives lost on their behalf.

“In one way though, I’m lucky.”

Viola gave a thin smile.

“I have a friend at home. She’s very capable of dealing with the unseelie. She’s got this cool magic that cuts through their tricks and curses, and works with people to rescue those who have been spirited away. Saved me just before I came here, actually. Is there anyone where you come from who has the talents or training to deal with them?”

"Hmm, could have done with her back home," he said, rather grimly. "I didn't have any experts like that on my team. About the closest I've had is a tech genius, and that wasn't much help. We really weren't equipped to deal with this kind of semi-mystical stuff!"

"Oh dear." So generally, they were entirely helpless against them. What a bad subject, Viola might have visibly blanched if she weren't already pale.

"Consider getting your hands on iron, and hope for the best," Viola said sagely. "They seem to hate it."

"So what actually brought you here, and what are you looking for?"

"Thanks, I'll try and remember iron next time I come up against them," he nods, with genuine gratitude. Any tips and hints for dealing with problems like that are always welcome.

There's a very slight moment's hesitation, then, at her question, as he flits between the competing options of a) shrugging it off with a brief I just needed a break or b) actually forcing himself to do what he came here to do and talk about it.

But Viola's surprisingly easy to talk to and so after a moment he gives her a twisted little smile and says, "I recently lost a couple of people I'd become very close to. I'm looking for some space, I guess, to try and deal with that a little better than I usually do.

"You?"

"Oh," Viola's voice fell. In retrospect, she should have seen that coming, the fact that some people came here to deal with pain and forget pasts. Despite her recent adventure of nearly being 'eaten' in some vague, metaphoric way and having to send one of her maids to jail, Viola was nowhere near carrying that level of burden. At least not recently...?

"I suppose I just wanted a break." Viola said, feeling almost lame. "One of the few friends I had turned out to be anything *but*, but I was saved by the others. A nightmare was going to eat me... it wound up eating that ex-friend instead."

A moment passed. With a less heavy voice, she added. "But it was partially curiosity too. Until recently, I didn't get out of the house much."

Luckily, Jack is not at all judgemental (at least, not about this type of thing) and so he's just as sympathetic about her reasons for coming as she is about his.

"Sounds nasty," he observes. "Never fun when people you trusted turn on you, and almost being eaten by a nightmare definitely sounds like a good reason for needing a break!"

He quirks an eyebrow. "Why didn't you get out much? Too much sunshine?"

Viola giggles. "That's one way of putting it. But I assure you, the mountain town I live in is perfectly gloomy enough for enough days." It should also be noted that there's not a trace of sarcasm. Viola does like her dark settings apparently. "My parents were worrywarts. In a time where human trust of changelings is only recently turning around, they forbade me from leaving the house without them. Not until I learned how to perfect a human guise."

She flicked her arms backward, and her feathers retracted, and her scaly legs shifted back into human form. "Fortunately, I mastered this when I was ten. Most changelings capable of this struggle with it during their teenage years still."

He watched, eyes wide and fascinated, as at her gesture her wings disappeared and her legs returned to human.

"Wow, that's quite something!" he breathed, wondering if this was how people felt watching him gasp back into life after having been killed.

He grinned. "And so you were a child prodigy as well, to top off everything?"

“For me, it was less ‘child prodigy’ and more ‘I really wanted to see the outside world and I have nothing better to do’,” Viola answered with a light laugh. “I imagine disposition and having access to a lot of books on the matter helped me too.”

It was about time to head back. With night being as limited as it was, she still needed some actual sleep. “I’ve been pretty curious about the island, so I was hoping to fly around and get a more personal mental picture of it.”

He nodded, grinning. "I can understand that, yeah. Really wanting something makes it a lot easier to study for!"

He'd never been much of a student himself, unless it was something he really wanted, like trying to find the Doctor again, or - you know - learning all about every single pleasurable thing one could do to another person!

He glanced about at the island, wishing he could see it as she did so easily, from the air. "Don't suppose you can carry passengers?" he asked wistfully, knowing that even if she could it was highly unlikely that would include a very solidly built six-foot man!

Viola looked at him. “I’m sorry, I don’t know if I can. I’m not the most fit person, see.” She gave an apologetic shrug. “But it could be something to work towards! I mean, harpies in my world have trained to lift heavy people!”

A Day (2) In the Life

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