VOICE TEST

[dismemberthename]

[Whatever circumstances put you into this situation must have really sucked, because right now? You're basically in the middle of nowhere, with heavy snowfall verging on a blizzard, with no reliable way out of this mess. There's no sign of shelter anywhere, and you're in the mountains for fuck's sake. Maybe you can find some trees to hang out under...?

...Are those wolves howling? Seriously, why are even wolves out in this weather?]

((or you know whatever you wanna play follow your dreams))

Comments

[was_no_mononoke]

[ there's a beat of silence before he replies, that sense of don't fuck with this pressure increasing a bit in the quiet ]

I c'n call out lots of things. Most of 'em'll at least answer.

[dismemberthename]

[haha god what the fuck why not this could only go horribly wrong. sits up and gestures to himself with his thumb.] She's in here.

[was_no_mononoke]

[ perks up ]

Possession?

[dismemberthename]

I'm possessing her, but yeah, pretty much?

[was_no_mononoke]

...Y'aren't accidentally squishin' her, are you?

[dismemberthename]

[ALARM!!!! for a good. few seconds. then he shakes his head.] No. She comes out when she wants to. But she lets me deal with most things.

[was_no_mononoke]

Mmn, 'kay. Just had t' check, sharing is complicated 'nough...

[ leaning back on his hands, looking thoughtful ]

Y'said I should ask her, though. So. Hey, do you mind neighbors?

[ it's said with significantly less of the rural drawl and a great deal more solemnity despite the casual wording, that feeling of pressure increasing until the air is almost thick with it. the rock of the cave might as well have asked their opinion in total sincerity, or the thickly-fallen snow outside; that's what it feels like. ]

1/2

[dismemberthename]

[Sudoh freezes, that strong suspicion that he's been messing with something way out of his league PRETTY INTENSELY CONFIRMED.]

2/3 i lied

[dismemberthename]

[and it's like the life bleeds out of him as something else rises up. they don't coexist. not really. but when sudoh's gone, so is the life within them. her hair is lengthening. where it was already long enough to reach to her shoulderblades, it's now long enough to reach her knees.]

[dismemberthename]

[It's pretty clear that Daisuke is talking so someone else now. Her entire demeanor has changed. Where Sudoh was feral in his own way, clearly part of the pack, Shut Hell clearly isn't. The wolves put solid distance between her and them, crowding to the back wall of the cave and watching her warily. ...She's also not nearly so friendly.] Who the hell're you?

[was_no_mononoke]

[ responding the aggression with ceremony rather than offense ]

Guardian of the forests below. Daisuke Yamane is th' name I was given.

[dismemberthename]

What do you want from me? [she knows, but she wants him to say it to her, outright.]

[was_no_mononoke]

This is your territory, too. I wanted t' ask if you'd mind if I planted trees.

[dismemberthename]

[she wants to deny him simply out of spite. it would be so easy, and then he could leave her alone for good. ...But Sudoh has always done better with people around. He's been alone with just her for so long. Surely this could be good for him?] ... [well at least she's giving it thought?]

[was_no_mononoke]

[ waits patiently. at some point when he'd called her out he'd slid from his relaxed sprawl into seiza, legs tucked under him and hands in his lap ]

[dismemberthename]

Do what you want. But if you hurt him, I'll kill you.

[was_no_mononoke]

You don't hurt the kodama, I won't hurt either of you. ...Th' forest'll do what it wants, but y'don't seem stupid enough t' be careless.

[dismemberthename]

Kodama? [Sudoh would know what he meant, but Shut Hell doesn't have access to his knowledge the way he does hers.]

[was_no_mononoke]

Tree spirits. Tree gets old enough, it gets a heart.

[dismemberthename]

. . .

[was_no_mononoke]

[ sighs and sort of. grabs the front of his shirt to shake it and then tug the collar out. something in there makes a sort of squeaking chattering chirp and—

what pokes its head out to give Shut Hell a dubious once-over looks like someone took a cardinal's face and wings and stuck them on a squirrel; it's got little paws on the wing wrists and ruffled feathers where the cloth rubbed them the wrong way. it's also not all there, pale and washed out compared to everything around it. ]

Like this. The ones here'd look different.

[dismemberthename]

[This is so weird. You know this is weird, right?] ...I see no reason to harm such a thing.

[was_no_mononoke]

[ LOOK AT YOURSELF. NOW LOOK BACK TO ME. ]

Then we're fine. They're th' neighbors I was askin' 'bout.

[ the thing starts making more of those weird mashed-up noises—bird-wind-squirrel-cracking branches—at Daisuke in what is clearly some sort of diatribe; he huffs at it and tugs his collar back up over it, at which point it vanishes to all appearances. ]

[dismemberthename]

[she nods.] You can call him back, right? They'll miss him, if you leave it like this. [Sudoh doesn't crush her when he's in control, but her presence certainly does it to him.]

[was_no_mononoke]

Uh huh. What's his name?