Adapt to Live [Part 9]
Nov. 9th, 2015 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Noblesse
Summary: It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it was possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.
Rating: PG
Genre: General
Word count: 1,855
Total word count: 20,973
Status: Work in progress
Tao turned up the heating so ze and the – kid would be toasty inside the house. It would feel weird to the kid either way, but being warm was better than being cold.
Ze had to trust the kid wouldn't attack hir while ze looked after them, and so far, the kid hadn't given any signs they were violent.
The opposite, in fact. The kid had looked so blank, their face expressionless as they knelt in the snow. It could have been they were being overwhelmed like Tao and Takeo had been, but there had been no exploration, trying to figure out what everything was. They had just knelt there, trembling and on the verge of tears.
Not that Tao could blame them, and there was something strange at how three beings from the kid's batch had all been clutching their head when Tao had seen them. What did that mean? Had other demons Tao had fought been the same? Ze hadn't taken note of that, more interested in protecting the human the demon had been attacking at the time.
Ze sighed, pulling out their phone. [
That sent, Tao went to Boss' room and started to rummage around their drawers, trying to figure out what could fit the kid. The kid was closer to Boss' body type than Tao's, and it only took a few minutes to find something Tao hadn't seen Boss wear in a while.
Humming lightly under hir breath, ze went back to hir own room. The kid was there, not moved since ze'd placed them in hir bed and wrapped them up in under hir blanket.
Tao placed Boss' clothes on a chair and walked over. "Hey, kid." They got a blink for that, at least; they had to keep engaging the kid, if that helped. Ze hoped that helped.
As for the changes the kid had gotten as a demon...
The kid's hair seemed fluffier than before, and their feathers looked more like down than something that could help them fly. Not that that was needed for an angel or a demon. Tao had been able to see they didn't have the spaded tail like most other demons, but instead had a thick, furry tail. Their claw-tipped hands and large pointy ears that sat on top of their head was more differences amongst everything else. If someone could see their true forms, they would the the kid was a werewolf before a demon.
Tao hadn't seen those kind of changes in millennia, not since ze'd just arrived in the physical realm and had seen Muzaka's batch of demons.
"Tell me if you feel some really weird feelings," Tao said, sitting down next to them. "Weirder than what you've felt so far."
"It's all weird," the kid murmured into hir pillow, only moving their eyes to look up at hir. "How do you concentrate?"
"We adapt, heh," Tao said, smiling down at them. "It's all background noise after a while. But I know how you feel."
The kid frowned. "It can't be. I can't ever get used to it."
Tao's smile turned wry and ze reached over to ruffle the kid's hair, right between their new ears.
This time, the kid frowned while one of the ears flicked down. "You keep touching me. Why?"
It was a better reaction than what ze'd had before. "Touch is a connection," Tao said, petting their hair. "It tells you you're not alone."
The kid's expression brittled. "Oh."
Hm, what had ze said?
"I - I don't get it!" the kid burst out, and Tao jerked back slightly, but aside from the kid's outburst, they didn't move to attack. "Why am I still me? Why haven't I changed like my batchmates?"
"You have, kid," Tao said, taking hir hand back so the kid could work through their thoughts without distractions. "You've turned into a demon."
The kid shook their head. "I'm not attacking people. Why haven't I attacked you? As soon as they saw me, my batchmates attacked. Is it-" They chocked up, their eyes going wide.
"It's okay," Tao murmured, rubbing a continuous circle on the kid's shoulder. "Just keep breathing, your body is just reacting to your distress."
"Why-" The word was a strangled cry as they thrashed their wings. "Why does this body keep doing things?"
If the kid hadn't been so distressed, Tao would have been amused at how badly they were taking to the new changes. "Your body's giving you feedback; it lets you know if it needs something or if something else is happening."
And Tao would have sworn that was a growl that erupted from the kid's throat.
"But to answer your question," Tao said in the hopes that doing so would calm the kid down, "I think it's because of me."
The kid focused on hir again, and that did seem to distract them from what their body was doing.
"Magic...?"
Tao shook hir head, smiling. "Nah, nothing that big. I'm hoping anyway." Tao ruffling their hair again. "I gave you something else to focus on when you changed, and touch is a good way to keep a connection with someone."
"And to replace the one we lost," the kid murmured, looking away as they raised a hand to press it to their own forehead.
"Well… Yeah," Tao said, peering at them, "but I don't think you're talking about the same connection I am." Not with how the kid was starting to hold their head again.
The kid looked at them, their eyebrows drawn in. "The link."
"What link?" Tao frowned at that 'explanation' and the kid's eyes widened.
"With my - the Lord!"
Unease coiled inside Tao. "Yeah, you've lost me now," Tao told them. "We weren't connected to boss' Lord. Everyone would have known then when They'd disappeared." It was because not everyone was connected with Boss' Lord that they were able to keep it quiet, that they could pretend everything was still running smoothly.
"You...weren't?" the kid repeated, like this was a an unfathomable thing, like this was a new concept. "But then, how did you Lord keep track of you?"
...Who the hell was in charge right now? What the fuck was that? "They didn't," Tao said, hir words clipped. "If we wanted to do something, then that was our will, and we could do it with Boss' Lord blessing."
"Then...if you wanted to leave Heaven..." the kid said, their eyes going wide again.
Tao nodded. "Then we could leave. Like Muzaka. That was our choice." Tao sighed. Damn, all those conversations ze'd had with the kid, ze'd thought...
"But-" the kid paused, pursing their lips.
"What is it?"
The kid blinked, and then shook their head.
Tao mustered up a small grin. It wasn't one of their usual ones, but it would be good after everything the kid had gone through. "Heh. Ask whatever question you want - Boss was always happy to answer any questions I had, so I should really pass that on." That was part of the reason why ze would follow Boss anywhere - Boss had been willing to stop whatever they'd been doing to answer whatever question Tao had, even in Heaven.
The kid's stomach rumbled instead and their mouth dropped open, a hand flying to their stomach.
"It's fine, it's fine!" Tao said, waving a hand, hoping that would calm them down. "It just means your body needs food."
"Food," the kid repeated.
"Give me a second, okay?"
"Okay...?" the kid said, nodding.
"And if you can, sit up against the headboard," ze said, tapping it. "But don't worry if you can't - I'll help you when I get back."
They went to the kitchen and started heating up some of Boss' soup. It didn't take long, and Tao pulled out the tray for the kid.
"I'm back," Tao said, and smiled at the sight of the kid leaning against the headboard. "This is hot, okay? It's meant to be - I'd have made a sandwich, but this goes down a lot easier."
The kid was staring at the bowl, their nose twitching.
Tao grinned this time. "Yeah, that's your sense of smell."
"My sense of smell," the kid repeated, taking a deeper breath. "This is what everyone smells?"
"Pretty much," Tao said, putting the tray over the kid's lap. Though with how the kid looked, ze wouldn't be surprised if their sense of smell was better than everyone else's.
"I dunno if Loyard and Landegre had soup while you were there, but you take the spoon-" Tao waved the extra one ze brought. "-and dip it in like this, and then-" Ze hummed as Boss' soup hit hir tongue.
"You'll know how to swallow," Tao said, as the kid looked between everything, picking up their own spoon. "Our body knows what to do with the basic necessities, which is good, or else we would have died soon after we came here." Tao twirled their spoon between their fingers. "Boss' Lord's gift, probably."
"Gift...?"
Tao nodded. "Well, yeah. Boss' Lord made the barrier, remember? Why do you think They made it?"
"To punish us!" the kid said instantly, without thought. "So we would be forever changed and couldn't go back to Heaven."
Oh, kid. Tao exhaled. "You were here unchanged for a couple of days," ze said, looking at them. "How did it feel?"
The kid didn't say anything, and then their gaze dropped to their soup. "...Like I was alone, even with Seira and Regis being able to see me."
Tao nodded. "Boss' Lord made the barrier so we could interact with the people here."
The kid's eyes widened and their gaze snapped to hir. "We're not trapped here?"
"Nah." Tao shook hir head. "We just have to go through the barrier again to be changed back to an angel."
"That's it?" The kid started to frown. "And you didn't because you wanted to find your Boss' Lord first."
"Yup." There wasn't point going back when the whole point of going to the physical realm was to find their Boss' Lord. Why go back when they hadn't finished what they'd meant to? They didn't want to go back to a Heaven without Them.
"Oh." The kid was staring at the soup again. Slowly, they started to emulate what Tao had done, sniffing at the soup.
Before the soup was in the kid's mouth, Tao said, "Make sure it goes down your throat before speaking."
The kid put the spoon into their mouth and their mouth dropped open again. "It's warm! No wond-" They coughed, and Tao patted their back, chuckling.
"You're okay! It's okay. That's why you're not supposed to talk while eating - these bodies have one tube for talking and another for eating - they're just in the same place and can get a little mixed up."
The kid just stared at hir. "Why were they made like that?"
Tao scratched hir cheek. "Small bodies with not a lot of space, so it's more efficient that way, I think."
Summary: It's been a long time since Tao had seen an angel, not since ze left Heaven and turned into a demon. Ze hadn't thought it was possible to pass through the barrier between Heaven and the physical realm without changing. M-21's task in the physical realm is to kill as many demons as they can. Except the pieces aren't fitting together.
Rating: PG
Genre: General
Word count: 1,855
Total word count: 20,973
Status: Work in progress
Tao turned up the heating so ze and the – kid would be toasty inside the house. It would feel weird to the kid either way, but being warm was better than being cold.
Ze had to trust the kid wouldn't attack hir while ze looked after them, and so far, the kid hadn't given any signs they were violent.
The opposite, in fact. The kid had looked so blank, their face expressionless as they knelt in the snow. It could have been they were being overwhelmed like Tao and Takeo had been, but there had been no exploration, trying to figure out what everything was. They had just knelt there, trembling and on the verge of tears.
Not that Tao could blame them, and there was something strange at how three beings from the kid's batch had all been clutching their head when Tao had seen them. What did that mean? Had other demons Tao had fought been the same? Ze hadn't taken note of that, more interested in protecting the human the demon had been attacking at the time.
Ze sighed, pulling out their phone. [
Something happened and we've got a houseguest. We're fine, but I'm stealing your clothes.]That sent, Tao went to Boss' room and started to rummage around their drawers, trying to figure out what could fit the kid. The kid was closer to Boss' body type than Tao's, and it only took a few minutes to find something Tao hadn't seen Boss wear in a while.
Humming lightly under hir breath, ze went back to hir own room. The kid was there, not moved since ze'd placed them in hir bed and wrapped them up in under hir blanket.
Tao placed Boss' clothes on a chair and walked over. "Hey, kid." They got a blink for that, at least; they had to keep engaging the kid, if that helped. Ze hoped that helped.
As for the changes the kid had gotten as a demon...
The kid's hair seemed fluffier than before, and their feathers looked more like down than something that could help them fly. Not that that was needed for an angel or a demon. Tao had been able to see they didn't have the spaded tail like most other demons, but instead had a thick, furry tail. Their claw-tipped hands and large pointy ears that sat on top of their head was more differences amongst everything else. If someone could see their true forms, they would the the kid was a werewolf before a demon.
Tao hadn't seen those kind of changes in millennia, not since ze'd just arrived in the physical realm and had seen Muzaka's batch of demons.
"Tell me if you feel some really weird feelings," Tao said, sitting down next to them. "Weirder than what you've felt so far."
"It's all weird," the kid murmured into hir pillow, only moving their eyes to look up at hir. "How do you concentrate?"
"We adapt, heh," Tao said, smiling down at them. "It's all background noise after a while. But I know how you feel."
The kid frowned. "It can't be. I can't ever get used to it."
Tao's smile turned wry and ze reached over to ruffle the kid's hair, right between their new ears.
This time, the kid frowned while one of the ears flicked down. "You keep touching me. Why?"
It was a better reaction than what ze'd had before. "Touch is a connection," Tao said, petting their hair. "It tells you you're not alone."
The kid's expression brittled. "Oh."
Hm, what had ze said?
"I - I don't get it!" the kid burst out, and Tao jerked back slightly, but aside from the kid's outburst, they didn't move to attack. "Why am I still me? Why haven't I changed like my batchmates?"
"You have, kid," Tao said, taking hir hand back so the kid could work through their thoughts without distractions. "You've turned into a demon."
The kid shook their head. "I'm not attacking people. Why haven't I attacked you? As soon as they saw me, my batchmates attacked. Is it-" They chocked up, their eyes going wide.
"It's okay," Tao murmured, rubbing a continuous circle on the kid's shoulder. "Just keep breathing, your body is just reacting to your distress."
"Why-" The word was a strangled cry as they thrashed their wings. "Why does this body keep doing things?"
If the kid hadn't been so distressed, Tao would have been amused at how badly they were taking to the new changes. "Your body's giving you feedback; it lets you know if it needs something or if something else is happening."
And Tao would have sworn that was a growl that erupted from the kid's throat.
"But to answer your question," Tao said in the hopes that doing so would calm the kid down, "I think it's because of me."
The kid focused on hir again, and that did seem to distract them from what their body was doing.
"Magic...?"
Tao shook hir head, smiling. "Nah, nothing that big. I'm hoping anyway." Tao ruffling their hair again. "I gave you something else to focus on when you changed, and touch is a good way to keep a connection with someone."
"And to replace the one we lost," the kid murmured, looking away as they raised a hand to press it to their own forehead.
"Well… Yeah," Tao said, peering at them, "but I don't think you're talking about the same connection I am." Not with how the kid was starting to hold their head again.
The kid looked at them, their eyebrows drawn in. "The link."
"What link?" Tao frowned at that 'explanation' and the kid's eyes widened.
"With my - the Lord!"
Unease coiled inside Tao. "Yeah, you've lost me now," Tao told them. "We weren't connected to boss' Lord. Everyone would have known then when They'd disappeared." It was because not everyone was connected with Boss' Lord that they were able to keep it quiet, that they could pretend everything was still running smoothly.
"You...weren't?" the kid repeated, like this was a an unfathomable thing, like this was a new concept. "But then, how did you Lord keep track of you?"
...Who the hell was in charge right now? What the fuck was that? "They didn't," Tao said, hir words clipped. "If we wanted to do something, then that was our will, and we could do it with Boss' Lord blessing."
"Then...if you wanted to leave Heaven..." the kid said, their eyes going wide again.
Tao nodded. "Then we could leave. Like Muzaka. That was our choice." Tao sighed. Damn, all those conversations ze'd had with the kid, ze'd thought...
"But-" the kid paused, pursing their lips.
"What is it?"
The kid blinked, and then shook their head.
Tao mustered up a small grin. It wasn't one of their usual ones, but it would be good after everything the kid had gone through. "Heh. Ask whatever question you want - Boss was always happy to answer any questions I had, so I should really pass that on." That was part of the reason why ze would follow Boss anywhere - Boss had been willing to stop whatever they'd been doing to answer whatever question Tao had, even in Heaven.
The kid's stomach rumbled instead and their mouth dropped open, a hand flying to their stomach.
"It's fine, it's fine!" Tao said, waving a hand, hoping that would calm them down. "It just means your body needs food."
"Food," the kid repeated.
"Give me a second, okay?"
"Okay...?" the kid said, nodding.
"And if you can, sit up against the headboard," ze said, tapping it. "But don't worry if you can't - I'll help you when I get back."
They went to the kitchen and started heating up some of Boss' soup. It didn't take long, and Tao pulled out the tray for the kid.
"I'm back," Tao said, and smiled at the sight of the kid leaning against the headboard. "This is hot, okay? It's meant to be - I'd have made a sandwich, but this goes down a lot easier."
The kid was staring at the bowl, their nose twitching.
Tao grinned this time. "Yeah, that's your sense of smell."
"My sense of smell," the kid repeated, taking a deeper breath. "This is what everyone smells?"
"Pretty much," Tao said, putting the tray over the kid's lap. Though with how the kid looked, ze wouldn't be surprised if their sense of smell was better than everyone else's.
"I dunno if Loyard and Landegre had soup while you were there, but you take the spoon-" Tao waved the extra one ze brought. "-and dip it in like this, and then-" Ze hummed as Boss' soup hit hir tongue.
"You'll know how to swallow," Tao said, as the kid looked between everything, picking up their own spoon. "Our body knows what to do with the basic necessities, which is good, or else we would have died soon after we came here." Tao twirled their spoon between their fingers. "Boss' Lord's gift, probably."
"Gift...?"
Tao nodded. "Well, yeah. Boss' Lord made the barrier, remember? Why do you think They made it?"
"To punish us!" the kid said instantly, without thought. "So we would be forever changed and couldn't go back to Heaven."
Oh, kid. Tao exhaled. "You were here unchanged for a couple of days," ze said, looking at them. "How did it feel?"
The kid didn't say anything, and then their gaze dropped to their soup. "...Like I was alone, even with Seira and Regis being able to see me."
Tao nodded. "Boss' Lord made the barrier so we could interact with the people here."
The kid's eyes widened and their gaze snapped to hir. "We're not trapped here?"
"Nah." Tao shook hir head. "We just have to go through the barrier again to be changed back to an angel."
"That's it?" The kid started to frown. "And you didn't because you wanted to find your Boss' Lord first."
"Yup." There wasn't point going back when the whole point of going to the physical realm was to find their Boss' Lord. Why go back when they hadn't finished what they'd meant to? They didn't want to go back to a Heaven without Them.
"Oh." The kid was staring at the soup again. Slowly, they started to emulate what Tao had done, sniffing at the soup.
Before the soup was in the kid's mouth, Tao said, "Make sure it goes down your throat before speaking."
The kid put the spoon into their mouth and their mouth dropped open again. "It's warm! No wond-" They coughed, and Tao patted their back, chuckling.
"You're okay! It's okay. That's why you're not supposed to talk while eating - these bodies have one tube for talking and another for eating - they're just in the same place and can get a little mixed up."
The kid just stared at hir. "Why were they made like that?"
Tao scratched hir cheek. "Small bodies with not a lot of space, so it's more efficient that way, I think."