[Open + Closed] If I Had A Nickel For Every Time My Soul Got Transformed...

[crushed_pearls]

Who: Erin Peters and YOU, but also Phil and Cassandra de Rolo
When: January 21st Onward
Where: Locations
Summary: Fallout of some regains, trying to bounce back still, So Many Animal People On This Ship
Warnings: Lost bullshit, Erin's eyes in a jar, violent transformation. For reference all prompts after 1 feature the post-transformation Erin.


1. Well One Of Us Is Going To Have To Change (Closed To Phil; Sundries)

Avoiding asking Friday why she gets so much fucking mail is getting increasingly difficult for Erin. The curled-up scrap of the Contract with Stone is unexpected but very welcome; at last, she can haul her own sunfish, or at least not spend power like water to do so. The jar with her FUCKING EYES IN IT is disgusting but Erin had given them to Colors for Hedgespinning; maybe she could do the same? Or, preferably, Ossie or Giles or Okie might do the same, as Erin doesn't want these curst fucking things anywhere near her...

The grooming kit arrests her attention, though. Erin knows these tools. She used them often, once Gabby had warmed up to her. They're even etched with a little 'GG' encircled by feathers and thorns. God, it's been so long; Gabby was decades ago, and yet, and yet -

Searing pain, down Erin's shoulders. She lurches, dropping the grooming kit back into its package, crying out in shock. That sound rapidly becomes a scream of absolute fucking agony as raven's wings tear their way out of the meat of her shoulders and shred the back of her dress and coat into tatters. Feathers lace their way into Erin's tempestuous hair, joining the storm, and little scales - like a bird's - grow into place around her wrists and ankles.

"Mother fucker," Erin half-yells, half-sobs. And then, in a louder voice, a call for help: "PHIL!"

There's blood everywhere now. It's gonna be a whole fucking event, isn't it?

2. The Retired Villain's Club (Closed to Cassandra; Cabin 134 & the Hoard)

Love can you come to my cabin at your convenience? I have something I want to show you and talk about. Difficult conversation probably. There is no rush whatsoever.

3. Acceptable Levels of Hypocrisy (Around)

Sometimes you need to resort to weird measures to get around your problems. The issue: Erin has not been eating properly and she knows it. The solution: Erin is now eating in the weirdest goddamn places. Catch her with cups (not bowls) of various foods while perched on the statue in The Promenade, nibbling her way through an improbable amount of carbs while whittling in the Lounge, carefully eating garlic bread with a fork in The Library, or even indulging her endless need for sugar in the shallow reaches of The Infinite Tommy Bahama. Can't be on people for self-care if she's not caring for herself, damnit.

4. A Castle Made Of Clouds (Tauva)

Every few days you might catch Erin at Tauva with her doll's castle, now fully-manned by wooden figurines with operational siege weapons (powered by rubber bands), poking and prodding at it with her stylus and sometimes jotting down notes in braille. If she has reason to suspect you're into building, y'know, buildings, or have experience with interior design, you might have received a text requesting a consultation on a project; if not, well, she's got a doll castle in the smoking lounge, fuck's up with that?

Comments

[decrypter]

"Of course. There's too much going on on this ship. Strange inventions, magic situations, love affairs, enemies being declared, the occasional new soul drawn into all of this, where we're going next...there's a lot there, if people listen."

Even if they're not on an excursion, people can be so interesting.

[crushed_pearls]

"Speaking of strange inventions!" Erin claps her hands together, reminded of something she's been meaning to bring up. "If you're learning self-defense anyway, might I suggest a consultation with my sister? Ruby's a weapon designer, and while you might never be a warrior if she can get the materials around for it - maybe Bric-a-Brac has batteries...anyway, if she can get the materials around for it she might be able to make you something to disable folks with so you can leave. Maybe build a taser into a cane, shock folks so you can Fucking Go without the attendant side effects on you that traditional non-lethal weapons might have."

[decrypter]

"...Not that I want to seem like I'm declining your advice, or Miss Ruby's expertise, which I'm sure is excellent, but...how do I put this...I have a way to do that. To temporarily disorient people so that I can make some amount of distance."

And it has never come up, because Erin has never asked, nor has Helena volunteered this information.

"I won't refuse speaking to her, of course, but I wanted to reassure you that it's covered." Beat. "Also, when were you going to tell me you were related?"

[crushed_pearls]

"It's a new development. Ruby has the virtue of the stray cat; she adopts you." But now the curiosity is on Erin. "What do you do?"

[decrypter]

"It's a little difficult to explain, but I'm not going to go and use it on you, so please bear with me."

How to explain the echo? That strange, illuminating reverberation?

"When I focus in just the right way, I can direct a certain amount of sound to help me. If I turn it to something harmless, I can find it, listening for its particular echo. But, if I turn it on a threat to myself, then it changes. I know where that threat is, and it's strong enough that everyone around me will know as well. An awareness, you can call it, of exactly where they are. And for them, I've been told it's quite disorienting. Enough to slow your reactions, a ringing in the ears, a pounding in the head...it wears off swiftly enough, but it's there. Ten seconds is all I need for a headstart."

[crushed_pearls]

"...Not gonna lie, I want to feel what it feels like." Erin pushes her snacks away from herself and folds her hands in her lap. "The curiosity will eat at me forever."

[decrypter]

"...It's going to feel completely awful."

She doesn't make a habit of using this on friends.

[crushed_pearls]

"I don't expect it to feel another way, but aside from pure curiosity I want to know what it's like before I, say, ask you to use it on someone in an emergency." Her voice gets a little guilty. "I'm short on non-lethal options myself and if it could help take someone alive it'll be good to know what kind of care they'll need after."

[decrypter]

"Never had to think about caring for someone afterwards...if you're really, really sure, then stand up."

Shifting out of where she is, she's getting her cane. As wizards need their staffs, so does she need her conduit.

[crushed_pearls]

Erin stands, brushes herself off, and takes a steadying breath.

"Aight, fuck me up."

[decrypter]

"Okay."

She brings down the cane with precise force, the sound nothing less than striking the earth, that peculiar beat of thunder that had rang in the trial. Only now, everything isn't seeking strange metal, but directed fully at Erin Peters. An echo that lodges into her skull, unbalancing, sharp and discordant, vibrating out through her nerves.

It's bad enough when done at a distance, when there's the hope some of it dissipates. But Erin is right there, with no chance of it going anywhere else.

Ten seconds, and it subsides, it leaves her be. Yet it's ten whole seconds to feel it.

And for those ten seconds, aside from Helena, those in the general vicinity of several floors are aware of Erin too - her exact placement, her movements. It leaves, but the imprint is there, as if nudged into perception for a lasting glimpse.

[serialskiller]

Erin receives a text about thirty seconds later.

Someone just pinged me your location. Are you safe? Do you need me to come help?

Not Here

[midnightroads]

It's funny, because Bash has his own power of 'Where You At?', but he's pretty sure this isn't a him thing. Still, if he takes a moment to close his eyes and recenter himself in space...fuck it's annoying how that awareness lingers.

[ossie_oswald]

Ossie, from where he's reading somewhere nearby, looks up and asks aloud "oh bloody hell what has she done."

Looks around. Takes off his Blackbird bishop brooch. Someone else's problem for the moment.

[not_the_last]

Another text, not quite as quick as SecUnit's:

Erin, was that you trying to contact me just now? I felt you.

[makesomedeals]

[ Maximilien assumes that for some reason Erin is pinging him directly and that goes about as well as it did when SecUnit did the same. Which is to say wherever they are, if he's close enough to them, he's going to slam his palm into the ground, crackling with electricity as it shoots towards them. Or well Erin anyway, he has no idea Helena is there.

He's in permanent 'Do Not Disturb' mode for a reason.]

(not here)

[takethatnature]

Wilson has yet to meet Erin; he's been around for a few weeks so he's seen her, but only from a distance, the tall tattooed woman on the other side of the deck wearing a mask or a headband or something. And yet, over his plate of surf 'n' turf snatched from a ghost's hand in the formal dining room he gets a sudden mental image of Erin (Bird Edition) eating a fruit cup on another deck entirely, like how he could always tell where Wendy left that creepy sculpture of an eye she made with moon rocks and a red gem by the oddly directional distant sensation of being watched.

It fades after a few moments, but that sure was weird.

[ss_buttcrack]

[Add to that pile of text messages]

Yo, what the hell was that? Warn a guy first, will ya?

[Text]

[be_seeing_you]

All well, Erin?

-Smith

[She's a big girl and can mostly handle herself, he thinks, so he isn't running to her aid just yet.]

[ring_for_giles]

Giles does not like the sudden awareness of where Erin is, it gives him a bad feeling about what might be going on. So he does the entirely rational thing, fades out of perception and quickly makes his way to her to see what exactly is going on.

Not here

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ Is that ping coming from Erin, or someone trying to inform them about Erin? Why do they need to know this? They don't even like her and they don't recall volunteering to have her be their problem. Maybe someone wanted to let them know that she's part bird now? They do approve of the new look. ]

[sictransitgloriamundi]

[... okay in retrospect "letting people keep their powers only when it's funny" was probably not the best way to go through life.]

[littlefairytale]

Even more texts!

Erin why did I just sense your location louder than I even sense literal incoming violence.

[pointofhonoria]

Erin what in God's name was that, what's happening now?

Erin if you've thrown yourself into some weird trouble again you're gonna give your girlfriend a migraine...

Not here

[redlightgreenlight]

She's usually vaguely aware of where some people are in relation to her, but it's usually very faint and so far out of thought that it might as well not even register. This one does. Sharply.

She hisses, wondering what idiocy Erin has gotten herself into now, but is not concerned enough to text. Erin can take care of herself.