Sympathy [Jackal]

[Vriska]

Wednesday had been a good day. On Wednesday she'd been herself. Good days were becoming few and far between. Yesterday had been especially bad. She'd spent the whole day nine years old and remembering. Yesterday was a day she'd rather forget. Today wasn't too bad. Today she was a Zora, all smooth scale and sharp angles and a pattern of longer, wider scales where her wings used to be. Her lips were almost non-existent like this, and her face was longer, more angular. She'd never thought she'd miss the twisted wings she'd had to live with her whole life, but she did. She wanted them back. She wanted her horns back and her stone-grey skin.

Sitting on the ledge of one of the palace's windows, feet dangling over the edge, Vriska looked at her hands. They were a vivid blue. Under the relentless, exhausting sun, Vriska shone like a polished sapphire. Even her prosthetic was reacting to whatever was changing her, turning blue and patterned and mimicking the webbed fingers of her other hand. For Zora days she wore a slim, braided leather cord around her waist like a belt that held a skin of water. She drank deeply. Was this how Zora who lived on the surface felt all the time? So dry and cracked and so very thirsty? Eventually Vriska just emptied the skin over her face. It felt good. For a moment she managed to take her mind off the biggest question of all: What will I be tomorrow?

[Jackal]

x x

Kyoku de Ajia

It had been about a week since Jackal had seen Vriska last, and it surprised her how much she had noticed the time. She thought she wouldn't have grown so attached to humanity so quickly, or to some ... individual people, but she had. She'd started to miss Vriska to such a degree that it kind of hurt, so she'd promptly turned back around, made the impossibly arduous trip to the City in the Sky (she couldn't actually fly and didn't like getting shot out of cannons) and wound up back in the City. She didn't doubt that Vriska would've told her guards about her by now, but Jackal chose to slip into the castle silently, unseen. No need to draw more attention to Vriska than was necessary.

Though if what Jackal was hearing was true, there was something very strange going on. She had half a mind to just attribute it to bitter gossip, but ... it was worrisome. And it made Jackal want to see her again even more. Cloaked in shadow--though not her actual cloak, since it was so damn cumbersome--she scaled the walls of the Castle and made her way to the spot she remembered from her last visit, where Vriska's quarters were. Nothing. Jackal snarled and looked about, before she saw someone sitting in a window. That someone was definitely not Vriska.

That someone was also definitely Vriska.

What's going on? Jackal thought, leaping from Vriska's balcony and spanning her wings through the air, gliding over to the spot she saw with the strange figure on it. In one fluid motion she folded her wings back and grabbed onto the ledge, pulling herself up with one arm. She was starring at Vriska, a Vriska that was covered in scales. Not really remembering rules of propriety that well, she slowly raised a hand to Vriska's face, her eyes wide.

"What ... what happened to you? Are you all right?"

[Vriska]

As if sensing Vriska's need, Shayu came climbing back into her life. Vriska's heart leaped at the sight of her, and she couldn't fight the look of joy that came to her face as she drank in her presence, nor did she want to. She'd isolated herself almost completely since the day this had started. She hadn't seen a friendly face in so long. Finally there was someone to talk to.

It was a strange feeling to be touched again.

It was so wonderful to be touched by her again.

She reached up to clasp Shayu's hands in both of her's. "I'm alright, Shayu."

She remembered that she didn't have to lie to her. She broke. "I'm not alright." She moved closer to Shayu and wrapped her arms around her waist and buried her head in the crook of her neck and there were tears in her voice but not her eyes. "Something is changing me and I don't know what's happening or what I'm going to be tomorrow. I don't know what I am anymore. Hold me."

She needed Shayu now. She needed her dragon more than ever.

[Jackal]

x x

Kyoku de Ajia

Jackal smiled when Vriska took her hands, though she was still worried. She knew what it was like to have your body start doing shit of its own accord, and it was terrifying at best. How many times as a little girl had she tried to cut out her scales, or rip out all the fur that just started growing of her own accord? She remembered crying while Rwaht found her with a knife, lying in a pool of her own blood, having tried and failed to pry the hard-as-steel claws out of her fingers. But she'd only been a child then. At least Vriska had the capacity to deal with things, at least on some level. And if she didn't have Rwaht right now, at least she had Jackal. When Vriska fell towards her, Jackal couldn't help but stiffen in the spine, her wings flexing dangerously, but it was only an instinct. She relaxed it and held Vriska close, her mouth hovering by the apparently part-Zora girl's ears.

"Does it hurt?" Jackal asked, rubbing one hand down Vriska's back, moving it with the scales, as opposed to against them. Jackal had a unique understanding of how uncomfortable that could be. In spite of herself, she smiled. "Your scales are different from mine. Watertight." She held her wrist in front of Vriska and said, "Go ahead, feel them. They're a little different from yours. And harder, I imagine. You could cut yourself on the edges if you move your finger the wrong way." She looked into Vriska's eyes, still smiling strangely. "No matter what happens to you, Vriska, you'll always be beautiful to me. So go ahead, feel my scales. If we're having a freak-off there is no way you are winning that contest," she said, her grin growing wider, and more playful.

[Vriska]

Almost immediately Vriska was calming down. Shayu was

dangerous

unpredictable

unstable

deadly

and mine. My Shayu. My dragon.

And Vriska knew Shayu would never intentionally hurt her. And it felt so good to be in her arms. "It's horrible," she confessed as she gently fingered the scales on Shayu's wrist. They were indeed different. If Vriska's scales were a fine, layered mesh, Shayu's were a suit of plate. "Some of it's not so bad. When the scales start growing it itches like I'm on fire but a bath usually helps. Losing the horns and my- my wings is worse. It's a pressure, kind of like they're being pushed into me and nothing I do makes it better, and it feels like the inside of my skin is coated with jelly and afterwards I can lie in a tub of ice for hours and not get cold."

She took Shayu's hand, her other still wrapped around her waist. "The bones are worst. When it's the Zora or the Fairy they're not so bad, but when it's the Kokiri," she hesitated, not wanting to remember the Kokiri. "It's like they're being broken. Again and again and again."

At Shayu's comment Vriska couldn't help but smile. With her new mouth she couldn't really smile, though. Her lips merely pulled back to reveal rows of sharp, needle-like teeth. She hadn't eaten all day. She didn't really know how. She made herself look Shayu in the eyes. Even her eyes had changed, growing slightly bigger and glazing over. Her field of vision had grown, but the world was slightly distorted.

She hoped Shayu knew that she was smiling because she was happy, not because she wanted to eat her. She didn't want to risk kissing her like this, no matter how much she wanted to. She just rubbed her head against Shayu, trying not to scrape her too much with her scales. What could she say to a woman who thought she was beautiful?

"Twixt solid ground and empty, hollow sky," she started, snuggling deeper into Shayu's arms. "A land of none, a city trapped in flight. / Your people burn, you laugh, you do not fight. / O lonely world, how slow you are to die!"

This is not what you say to a woman who thinks you are beautiful, her mind told her, but her heart told it to wait, it was getting there. "At your heart I sit, torn as you are torn, / A birthright left, forsaken in the dust, / I take you up, but in your eyes: Disgust. / All I wished and more, yet I am forlorn."

Her entire skin itched. Her bones were starting to burn again, and this time they truly burned, as if she were on fire from the inside. Her eyes watered, her teeth receded back to their old shape and before she shut her eyes from the pain she could see the scales fading from her skin, returning it to its familiar, comforting grey. Her back was agony. The wings growing back in, she told herself.

"O dying world! You will never hold me," she finished, the sonnet reaching an agonized crescendo, as if the words and Shayu's touch could make the pain stop. "For I am strong and she is stronger still, / A dragon! Proud of shadow fire wrought, / My dragon! Black and beautiful is she!" The pain was fading. She held Shayu closer and did not open her eyes. She did not want to see what she had become other than hers. Had she opened her eyes, she would see they were wrapped in dark, beautiful wings.

"Wild and wondrous flight, burning, blazing will, / Touch so soft, love so sweet, with ribbon caught."

[Jackal]

x x

Kyoku de Ajia

Jackal didn't know why, but when Vriska said that some of it wasn't so bad, she started crying. She knew what that meant. It meant that when the scales started coming out of your skin it didn't hurt so bad as the blades of bone, or having your skull change its shape over the course of two weeks, bones breaking and re-aligning every night. She hugged Vriska close. She had some quip ready about how, at one point, she'd actually had five toes on each foot, but that sort of dissolved away as her heart broke for the hybrid in her arms.

"Oh, Vriska, I didn't want ... I didn't want anyone else to have to know what that feels like," she said, as Vriska described what it felt like to have her bones shrink and shift. It happened to her every time she changed back from a dragon. Most Minish didn't feel pain when they transformed, but Jackal did, probably because she only had half of the genetic stuff required to make it go smoothly. When Vriska pressed her head against Jackal's, Jackal hugged Vriska again, refusing to let go. She did blink, though, as she realized she was reciting poetry. About the city in the sky. Was she inventing that on the spot?

Damn. That's kinda hot.

Then she realized Vriska was in pain, her mouth deciding to rearrange itself as she composed poetry. Jackal felt something stirring beneath Vriska's back, and so lowered her hands so that they were resting roughly on Vriska's ass. That wasn't an accident.

Hey is the sestet about me the sestet is totally about me, she thought, blinking. Something about that was amazingly attractive to her. Something stirred in her, unsettled at the thought of being anyone's dragon, but she found the idea wasn't so unpleasant when it was Vriska saying it. She realized that there were black feathers all around the both of them, and they were coming out of Vriska's back. Jackal blinked and her eyes widened, in awe of the feather cocoon. Her eyes flashed red, just for a moment, and she saw veins of blood running through them. These wings were alive. Alive and well. She nuzzled into Vriska's hair.

"Open your eyes. And for the record if you ever do that ribbon thing again I'm going to claw your face off," Jackal muttered, grinning happily. She realized her hands were still on Vriska's butt. "Ooh butt." Squeeze squeeze.

hahahaha I have always wanted to do that.

[Vriska]

Vriska chuckled at Shayu's comment and returned her gesture. As far as butts went, Shayu's was probably the best butt Vriska had ever seen. And felt. Squeeze squeeze. "Noted." She made a note to bring several ribbons when she finally managed to get Shayu to bed.

Vriska opened her eyes and her breath caught in her throat. She brought one hand up and stroked the black feathers enveloping them both. She felt it. She felt it. She had wings. She had wings. Big, beautiful wings. She heard herself sob. "No. No. This is too cruel."

Was she crying? Holy sh8t she was crying. They both were. Why were they crying. And why was it so cold. Oh right, she wasn't wearing any clothes. Well, that was simple enough to fix. Lifting herself up, Vriska sat in Shayu's lap. Her wings moved to accommodate the change as if they had a mind of their own, wrapping around them both. No one could see them. No one would even know Vriska was there. After all, everybody knew the new Lord was a wingless freak.

But not today.

And they would be gone in the morning.

Wrapping her arms around Shayu, Vriska pressed herself closer to her dragon. She was so beautiful and warm and moving slowly, giving Shayu plenty of warning, Vriska kissed her again.

[Jackal]

x x

Kyoku de Ajia

Weirdly, Jackal was actually surprised when Vriska grabbed her butt. There was an absolutely absurd moment when the dragon in her got upset over it but by this point the rest went Oh lighten up would you. She grinned and purred a little, before she saw that Vriska was crying. Her face fell and she raised a hand to Vriska's chin, touching it gently and forcing her to look in Jackal's eyes. There weren't tears in Jackal's eyes any more.

"When it comes to swapping bodies like they're going out of fashion, I have more experience than you," Jackal said, sounding oddly serious. "We'll figure this out. I promise you. We'll figure it out and get it under control. But if you start crying about losing these wings tomorrow, then you won't get to enjoy them today." Vriska settled onto Jackal's lap, and they were enclosed in her black feathers, enclosed in shadow. She pulled Vriska close, and kissed the Oocca when she kissed her, but freed up her mouth for talking before long.

"When I was ten, I started growing fur. I'm not talking about the normal phases of 'where is all this hair coming from', I mean fur. Around my chest. I was terrified. Then, my eyes just started glowing when I was angry or sad, which was all of the time. In a month's time, these had started to harden." She raised her fingernails and clicked them together. "The whole process took several months, of course, but I kept trying to cut them out because I was so scared of them. It didn't work, and I bled everywhere. They grew back harder. That might even be why they're so hard now."

She raised her arm, and clicked one claw against one of those rock-hard, platelike scales.

"For the next three years I had headaches and pain in all my bones as things shifted around. My skin burned and grew harder. I was afraid of crowds. For two weeks I couldn't move or speak because my skull was breaking itself apart as my ears shifted up to the top of my head. I thought I was going to die. You can't imagine how much Rwaht worried over me. Then, when the pain stopped and I could move my neck again, things were different. When I was in pain, I'd hiss. When I was happy, I'd purr. When I was angry a clicking sound came out of my throat that I couldn't control. And if I ever lost control of myself, all I knew was that I wanted to hurt people who hurt me and get to safety, even if that meant clawing their eyes out.

"It took about two more years for my scales to harden up and for the blades and tail to come out. The last thing to happen was with my feet. I used to have ten toes. Two on each foot just started slowly dying, and melted into the other toes." She took Vriska's shoulders in each hand and pulled her close. "And I wouldn't change a moment of it. Not all the pain. Not the terror. Not all those nights I spent crying wishing I could just be a normal girl who could wear dresses and sleep on soft beds. Because it made me. Jackal. That's nothing for me to be ashamed of. There will always be people who throw stones, but you know what? I'm a big goddamn dragon. As for you, you're a beautiful girl with horns and shrivelled wings. I know that hurts," Jackal said, pulling Vriska close and nuzzling into her hair again, "But it's who you are. It's nothing to be ashamed of. And whatever this is, it's a part of you too. These beautiful wings, they're just as much a part of you as your small ones are, just like my beak is a part of me, even when it's not around. You don't forget being a dragon. And you shouldn't forget that you're beautiful. No matter what."

She arched her head back and turned Vriska's face towards hers.

"Don't ever be ashamed of what you are, Vriska. Don't you ever. And if these Oocca think you're not good enough to rule them, they can't do a damn thing about it. You have a dragon, and she'll always be with you, as long as you want her. If you have scales, feathers, wings, whatever. I've had them all. And I ... I want to have you. Somehow." She sounded oddly embarrassed about it, until one realized that Jackal had never really known anyone who wasn't a relative before now, much less have been attracted to anyone. "Some--most--people will never think I'm beautiful. They see the scales and the teeth and the claws and that's all they see.. But you see more. And that's enough for me. I think you're beautiful, Vriska, no matter what shape you're in." Jackal bowed her head, toughing Vriska's forehead with her own. It was strangely intimate. Kissing didn't come naturally to the dragon girl, who could never quite forget that sometimes she had a beak, and sometimes it sent forth black death. She just knew to do what her instincts told her. She'd trust the dragon in her to help the human. It was all she could do.

And she didn't want it any other way.

[Vriska]

When it came to pasts, Shayu's was definitely worse than Vriska's, and that was saying something. It did put things into perspective, though. She should focus on the good over the bad. She should focus on Shayu. While she talked, all Vriska could do was hold her and listen. She hadn't known - hadn't even begun to suspect - "Oh Shayu," she said, holding her close.

"Careful. Keep talking like that and I might just start falling for you." She smiled at her, loving the intimacy and closeness of their little private world. "I like your scales," she told her. "I like your fur, I like your chest, your eyes, your claws, your feet, your ears, even your beak. I love the sounds you make. I like you. All of you. I wouldn't change you for the world. And I promise," she added, moving one hand up from its comfortable perch on Shayu's butt up to stroke her ears. "You will always be my dragon. As for having me, well," she moved her face closer to Shayu's and whispered. "There's just the two of us here." The hand on Shayu's ass started moving in tandem with the one rubbing Shayu's ear which was now moving with purpose, trying to massage a purr out of her.

[Jackal]

x x

Kyoku de Ajia

Jackal laughed when Vriska spoke, and actually--despite a very pronounced nervousness--said,

"That's what I was hoping for." She smiled when Vriska spoke, and actually blushed. She wasn't actually aware she was doing it. She hadn't had many opportunities to blush before then, after all. And then Vriska said something dir-hir-hiiiirty heeeeee and started stroking Jackal's ear. Jackal's suave, composed response was to promptly fall over onto Vriska, completely losing control of her limbs.

"Hehehehe oh no crap." In the fall, her tail had wound up hanging over the edge of the windowsill. She'd never told anyone, but her tail was definitely the heaviest part of her; it did have a hugeass club made of solid bone, after all. If it wasn't for that thing she figured she'd be able to legitimately fly rather than just sorta fall slowly at an angle. Still more than a little bit out of it, Jackal started slipping off of Vriska. And off of the window.

Ooooooooooh no.

And down she went.

[Vriska]

When Shayu blushed, Vriska giggled and felt herself blushing in response. As she tried to support Shayu's limp body, Vriska wondered if this was what falling in love felt like. While trying to sit comfortably, still support Shayu's weight, keep her wings wrapped around them and still somehow rub her ears, Vriska could only watch helplessly as Shayu found out what falling out the window felt like.

Much like the time Vriska had jumped on a grenade, what happened next didn't really have much thought behind it. Vriska jumped out the window after her, folding her wings and falling into a dive to catch her. Then she realized something. She shouted it to Shayu over the wind. "I don't know how to fly!"

[Jackal]

x x

Kyoku de Ajia

Falling really wasn't so bad. Seriously.

One of Jackal's chief sources of entertainment in the past few years had been leaping from branch to branch through the tallest trees in Faron Woods, and sometimes when she was doing that she fell. Even she, with all her reflexes, could miss a branch sometimes. But it wasn't bad. She could glide with her wings, and could usually get in range of another tree before she hit the ground. Unfortunately, her wings could only really support her own weight, not, say, a rapidly plummeting newly made Oocca girl with no idea of how to fly. Jackal had, naturally, spread out her arms and legs, and her wings were stretched as far as they could go. Vriska was shooting at her like a guided missile.

The result was very much what you would expect from a missile hitting a hang-glider.

"Gak!" Jackal blurted intelligently, as they started rocketing towards the earth, absolutely tangled with one another. Which would've been really hot if impending death wasn't a big issue. "My back! Get on my back!" She screeched, and screeched really was the right word. She rolled them around until Vriska was basically straddling Jackal from behind--Dir-hir-hiiiiirty heeeeee--and started to change. She tried to do it as quickly as possible, with the dramatic--and painful--side-effect that the bones in her arms and wings grew faster than the rest of her and kind of shot out like some sort of terribly eldritch kite. She screamed out in pain but bit her lip and focused on introducing helpful additions like muscle and skin. It was strange, feeling the rest of her changing "normally"--which was to say at least still covered by a rapidly expanding mass of fur and scales--while watching the inner bodyparts layer over onto the skeleton of her wings and arms, before the skin finally decided to show up for work. Once her arms were fully formed--and in monstrous pain dammit never try that again--she flared them wide, reducing their fall speed so suddenly that she felt Vriska lift up slightly from her back.

She glided them away from the City in the Sky, and towards the nearest thing that wasn't full of Oocca that would notice their thoroughly de-pants'd lord riding a dragon. That thing happened to be a cliffside. Jackal clung to it with her claws and screeched victoriously, before she realized that throwing her head back and making a bunch of noise was probably really disconcerting for Vriska while she was hanging on to Jackal's back. Jackal clawed her way up the cliffside until she found something resembling a plateau, and found her footing there. She opened her mouth, and then remembered she couldn't speak in this form. She let out a weird huff and took control of her own massive shadow. She tapped the ground with one claw and started to form letters with the shadow, in quick, thin lines.

I can't talk in this form.

The shadowy lettering wiped itself clean, then formed another sentence.

Are you all right?

[Vriska]

There was something very, very few people knew about Vriska. She was afraid of heights. You try growing up fifty thousand feet in the air with nothing to catch you if you fall off. Still, some part of her reacted to Shayu's orders, whether it was the knight's discipline or just the fact that she'd wanted to ride her in more ways than one since she first met her. And then Shayu changed.

Oh wow, that can't feel good.

She really should have looked before she'd leaped. She could kind of fly as a crow. She was an Oocca now, could she teleport? Could she have grabbed Shayu with her mind and pulled her back up? Stupid stupid stupid. She hoped she wasn't making a habit of jumping on grenades. She lifted her head to see if Shayu was alright and was immediately seized by panic, burying herself in her dragon's fur and holding fast. They were so high.

But she had wings, didn't she?

Too high too high too damn HIGH

Her dragon was with her. If she didn't at least open her eyes, what was she, compared to the woman who had just gone through a transformation like that to save her life?

Opening her eyes, Vriska lifted herself slowly, still holding on to Shayu's fur and pressing her knees close to her back. They were flying. They were actually flying. Vriska heard herself laughing, still not quite believing where she was. When they landed and Shayu roared, Vriska roared with her. On the plateau, Vriska snuggled deep into her dragon's fur. "I'm wonderful," she told her. "Thanks to you. What about you? Are you okay? That looked like it hurt." Understatement of the year right there, but Vriska was genuinely worried. "I'm sorry I kind of threw you out a window. And then jumped out after you." She let herself slide forward, loving the feel of Shayu's fur against her skin until she could almost wrap her arms around her neck. "That was fun, though, wasn't it?"

Maybe she wasn't sorry at all. Maybe it was worth it.

[Jackal]

x x

Kyoku de Ajia

Jackal was surprised to find that her arms and wings didn't really hurt anymore. The pain had only come while her nerve endings had been forming--to wit, OW--and when the bone had shot through the skin in the first place. But the worst of it had been the shock of it. At least there was that. And besides, Vriska was safe, and she'd gotten to do the saving. Jackal considered that a personal plus. She was suddenly furious that she was a dragon right now, and unable to touch Vriska without, well, crushing her. She couldn't change back, not by will; she had to wait it out.

It was going to be a long wait.

When Vriska asked her if she was hurt, Jackal shook her head, the movement much more dramatic by the length of her neck. She settled down on all four legs and rested her head on her crossed arms, letting out a somewhat depressed huff. She didn't dislike being a dragon, not at all; but she did dislike it when Vriska was so close. Shadows appeared on the ground again.

It'll be a while before I can change back.

The shadows erased themselves.

It was fun. You should try out your wings.

It was going to be a long wait.

[Vriska]

When Shayu shook her head, Vriska was shaken along with it, squealing and laughing. So this was what a perfect day was like. Vriska wondered if Shayu could make every day a perfect day. She slit further forward as Shayu lay down until her chest rested almost on top of her dragon's head. Her ears were much bigger and fluffier in this shape. She loved those ears. Laying down and stretching out on top of her dragon, Vriska reached for one and stroked it with her fingers, wondering if it worked on the dragon as well as it worked on the woman.

Shifting her weight, Vriska moved her head down to the ear she was stroking. "Scratch what I said earlier," she murmured and planted a kiss on the inside of her ear. "I think I might be starting to fall in love with you already." Heart racing at the thought, Vriska slid off her dragon's head and walked in front of her. She barely even had to bend to wrap her arms around Shayu's beak. As a woman Shayu took Vriska's breath away. As a dragon she was no less beautiful. Kissing Shayu's beak, Vriska turned around and took a few steps away, putting far more sashay into her step than was actually needed as she spread her wings. How did Oocca fly?

"Just roar if you need me, Shayu."

She spread her wings and flew.

[Jackal]

x x

Kyoku de Ajia

Jackal had to admit, it was hard to be disgruntled about being a dragon when Vriska was so insistent on making it as enjoyable as possible. Hearing her laugh when she swung around on her neck was so adorable that Jackal forgot herself and let out a screeching roar. It probably sounded murderous, but she meant it kindly. Dragons had a hard time doing things by half. She stopped squirming around once Vriska slid down off of her neck, essentially resting her boobs on Jackal's nose.

Dir-hir-hiiiiiiiiiiir-ty heeeeeee.

When Vriska started to scratch one of her ears, Jackal didn't really react as intensely as she did while a person. To get a similar effect she'd need a hand the size of a hubcap. Or she could press a much more flexible, wet surface onto her ears yeeeeeeeeeeeah that'd probably do the trick. It was a good thing she was already lying down, because her eyes glazed over like a contented puppy's, and she let out a low, rumbling purr of contentment. She recovered her mental faculties with about enough time to watch Vriska kiss her on the beak. She didn't feel it, but she appreciated the sentiment. She'd always been secretly jealous of other people kissing. She wished she could enjoy it as much as they seemed to.

Practice makes perfect, she reminded herself, somewhat smugly. When she was a woman it was a lot easier to see the upside. As Vriska walked away, though, she found herself thinking But check out that backside. She was glad dragons couldn't blush. When Vriska spread her wings, Jackal tensed, worried, but her newfound Oocca abilities seemed to at least come with the proper set of instincts. She flew beautifully.

Jackal got onto her feet, pushed out her chest by extending her forelegs, and roared, raising her throat to the skies. She roared victoriously, triumphantly, as she watched Vriska fly.

[Vriska]

Whether it was because she was a crow or half-Oocca or it just came with the magic, but Vriska could fly. The air held her up like a solid thing and as she rose higher and higher the land became like a map spread out under her. For the second time in her life Vriska flew, and she wasn't afraid of it. She had wings and she was beautiful and strong and nothing else mattered.

A slight shift to catch a stray wind brought Vriska into a sharp turn and then a dive. She could see the air. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. She landed on Shayu's back, pressing herself into her. "Oh, Shayu, the things I want to do to you," she purred. Vriska nipped at an ear with her teeth. Just a little love bite. "I can't help but wonder what sounds I could bring you to make. You are so warm." She nuzzled into Shayu's fur. She was quite sure she had never been this happy before.

[Jackal]

x x

Kyoku de Ajia

Jackal continued to roar as Vriska flew, truthfully losing herself in it a bit. There was something infinitely refreshing in a good "I ASSERT MY DOMINANCE OVER THIS LAND" shouting match. She couldn't explain why. It was like picking out a scab; it just felt good. She saw Vriska dive bombing down towards her, and ruffled her back, tensing her shoulder muscles enough to endure the impact. When Vriska hit, thought, it may as well have been like dropping a feather on a boulder. It was strange, though, to feel Vriska moving around on her back, out of sight. It felt good, but a very weird kinda good. Then something nipped at her ear and all of a sudden her vision went red.

The sudden prick in one of the only sensitive parts of her body, combined with the knowledge that there'ssomethingonmybackIcan'tseeitWHATISITWHATISITWHATISIT!, sent Jackal into an absolutely wild panic. She reared onto her hind legs, and there was a sudden, vicious, truly dangerous roar that came out of her mouth, and there was nothing noble or gentle about it. It was the sound of an animal that could, and would, kill. She whipped her head from left to right and started violently shaking her back--which you quickly realized was where her dragon body kept most of the absurdly powerful muscles that let it fly--to get the thing off before--

NO!

As suddenly as she'd started, she stopped, falling back onto all fours and bowing her head to the ground. A sound like a whine came out from deep in her throat. She still couldn't turn back. The whine turned into a terribly depressed croak, and shadows arranged themselves into a single word on the ground in front of her.

Sorry.

[Vriska]

That wasn't supposed to happen. That definitely wasn't supposed to happen. What she'd meant as a flirtatious gesture had freaked Jackal - Shayu. She was still Shayu. Vriska had to remember that. Shayu was freaking out and not even Vriska could hold on in the face of her tremendous strength. She was thrown off her dragon's back and all she could do was roll as she landed but she was bare on a cliff thrown off a dragon's back. As she got up she could see she was bleeding from at least a dozen scrapes and scratches and she was sure she'd be bruised as hell in the morning. At least she hadn't sprained or twisted or broken anything.

She approached Shayu again, this time making sure she could see her and reached out to stroke the top of her head. "It's okay, I'm fine. It's my fault, really. I should've asked you about the do's and dont's of your animal side earlier."

She paused for a moment. "Do you mind if I use my magic on you? It'd heal all this right up good as new." This time the ferocity of Ja-SHAYU, DAMMIT Shayu's outburst had actually managed to rattle her. Something in her had tensed in that moment and Vriska had been ready for a fight. The thought made her feel ashamed. If they were going to make this work Vriska would need to learn how not to aggravate Shayu's dragon side to such an extent. And she realized that she was absolutely willing to work for that. To make this relationship work.

Woah. I've never been in a relationship before. How does that even work?

[Jackal]

x x

Kyoku de Ajia

When Jackal turned and saw Vriska--how hurt she was--she bowed her head to the ground and moaned, a piteous, wretched sound that somehow expressed more self-hatred than any word ever could have. The shadows on the ground twisted and warped until they returned to Jackal's shadow, where they'd come from. She was startled to realize how close she'd come to losing control of the Shadowfire: she hadn't done that in years. When Vriska stroked her head, Jackal flinched, but began to feel her body changing. Her time as a dragon was finally up. The massive, terrifying mass of power that was her dragon form began to recede, and this time she was particularly careful to take the transformation slowly. After a long, long time, she was a woman again, on all fours. She got to her feet, then promptly fell back down on her butt and pulled her knees to her chest. It wasn't a dramatic thing; she just wanted to be sure she wasn't going to lash out again.

"I'm so sorry. I just ... lost control," Jackal said, her voice barely above a whisper. Tears were falling down her cheeks, even as her eyes glowed, giving the droplets a strange, red tint from the light. She nodded at Vriska's request. For a long time, she was still, trying to keep out all the thoughts that had crippled her as a little girl, and even as a young woman. She couldn't let that rule her. She couldn't fall prey to those doubts. And yet....

I was right, wasn't I? What if I'd thrown Vriska towards the edge of the cliff? I could've killed her. I'm not a person. I'm an anim--no. She wouldn't let herself think like that. Nothing good would come from that way. After a long while, she finally spoke again.

"It's ... it's not like when I'm a dragon a switch just turns on and off ... it's just that everything's worse. I mean, it's more ... potent. The part of me that's a dragon is more powerful, just like the part of me that's a person is more powerful when I'm ... like this. But ... but I don't like being tied up or ... restrained. I don't know why. I just can't handle it. Earlier, when you pulled the ribbon around my throat, I ... I tried to joke about it, but it sort of set something off. If I'd been a dragon, I wouldn't've been able to joke. I would've freaked out. I just can't handle something on my back where I can't see it, either. If something touches me and I can't see, I just ... snap. Like when you squeezed my butt. I know I sound like an awful hypocrite, but somehow, the fact that I couldn't see it just ... oh Goddesses, look at me." Jackal muttered, burying her face in her hands. At least her voice hadn't changed. At least she'd managed to stay in control. "It's about ... control. It's so hard for me. With my shadowfire, with the dragon part of me ... with Jackal. And if anything compromises it ... the first thing to go is the dragon. It's stronger. It knows how to keep me safe. The last thing--the last thing is the shadowfire. If I ever lose control of that," She looked at Vriska in the eyes, "You have to promise to leave me behind and run. Promise me."