come_sailaway | Like Wandering In a Dream

Like Wandering In a Dream

Who: Maxwell('s shadow)
What: Wandering around the Windjammer
When: July
Where: The Windjammer
Warnings: no

A silhoutte with a striking resemblance to one Maxwell Carter is wandering around the Windjammer, its steps making a distinct worble noise, like a thin piece of plastic or metal being waved around. It seems to be focused on making tea, but it seems to be having trouble deciding on a flavor.

Perhaps it would appreciate a little advice? Or perhaps it's up to no good.

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Yufei's last experience with shadowy creatures is what got him into this whole mess to begin with so when he sees this thing he doesn't hesitate, doesn't second guess. Even though this shadow silhouette looks completely different it still instantly triggers his attack mode.

He tosses what he was holding to the side and charges at the shape with a feral yell, fully expecting to be able to damage it and that it'll be tangible.

Being half a mind has its advantages. While a normal shadow puppet has a bit of dreamlike lethargy to its movements as a result of being only a tenth of Maxwell's consciousness, this one has enough awareness of his surroundings to realize he's under threat. The shadow dives out of the way, fast enough to hopefully just be grazed by the attack. He stumbles against a stack of plates with a loud clattering sound.

He raises his hand, attempting to conjure a Dark Sword, but all that appears is a crude axe. Right. I'm a Servant, not a Duelist. No built-in sword. Thoughts racing (albeit at half speed from being only half a mind), he grabs one of the empty serving dishes from nearby, holding it by the handle to use as a makeshift shield. A bit of sautéed mushroom juice dribbles onto his shadow shoes, but that's hardly a priority right now.

Yufei is so used to ambushing prey and things being scared of him and freezing, that the dodge actually takes him by surprise. He skids to a stop a few feet beyond, dropping down on all fours to look back at this shadow creature, growling all the while. A sound a human shouldn't be able to make.

He stands back up slowly, glaring at this thing that now has an axe and a plate. The smart course of action would be to say something, maybe ask what it is and what it's doing there. Too bad Yufei is dead set on just killing it and asking none of those questions.

He darts back, trying to dive at its knees and knock it over.

It dodges out of the way prematurely, not even trying to take a swipe at him. It turns and continues to eyelessly stare at him, nodding rhythmically. Is it... counting?

After a brief pause, it circles back over to the plates. It seems to be waiting for something.

It could start singing and dancing for how little Yufei is paying attention to the specifics. He just wants this thing gone.

He hooks an arm out as he misses the tackle to try and bring the shadow down with him, then snarls when it doesn't work. Huffing, he shakes himself and then gets up a second time. Old habits die hard and it's time to launch himself straight at this creature again.

Bait taken.

Edited 2023-07-19 17:50 (UTC)

The shadow knocks the stack of plates to the floor, scattering them in Yufei's direction. Some of the plates survive the fall and simply become slipping hazards, while others shatter and become hazardous shards of ceramic or glass or whatever the heck they're made of. He's hoping his attacker will either injure himself on the shards, slip on the plates and crash into the side of the buffet, or a little of both. Still, the maneuver eats up some valuable reaction time, and his dive to the side is less than graceful- he stumbles into a nearby table, smacking his arm.

He hits the plates full tilt, and while he skids a little his steel toed boots protect him from the jagged shards (good thing he's not wearing the flip-flops that Klaus showed him), but he does go careening into the buffet and rolls over it to crash into the ground on the other side.

At least he has cover now.

He pops his head up over the side, hair in disarray and coming out of the high ponytail he had it in.

"What are doing here!"

The shadow has gone fully on the defensive. He grabs a nearly-empty tray of barbecue pulled pork and flings the grease all over the floor, before trying to shelter behind the tea counter.

He's about to hurl himself over this buffet and try to tackle this shadow for the fourth time which will definitely work, when he's distracted by the smell of grease and bbq sauce and the gloopy clatter of congealed meat and bone and fat hitting the ground.

He visibly sniffs the air and then crouches down to crawl around the side of his protective cover to stare pointedly at the mess on the floor.

The shadow continues to shore up his defenses. He’s now unwrapping cutlery and tossing it on the stretch of floor between them, to further discourage charge attacks. He keeps a couple of forks on hand, just in case this enemy unexpectedly has the strength to vault over the full distance. If this beast-of-a-man does leap the full distance, he will be falling on a fistful of forks.

He absolutely could leap that distance and then some, but he keeps glancing between the silverware shaped caltrops, the shadow, and the delicious chewable morsels on the floor. The only reason he hasn't made a mad dash for it is that eating hasn't been going so well for him the past couple weeks, but he hasn't just chewed on anything yet. (Thanks for nothing Skulduggery).

"What are doing? Forks don't go on floor." As he inches closer.

At last, the shadow opens its mouth to speak, revealing a spiraling void of teeth that descends endlessly into an unfathomable otherwhere.

"You are attempting to harm me. I am defending myself with what means I have. I could ask the same of you- what are you doing?"

The voice that comes out is that of a hunter, from something that stalks in the space between the stars; masculine and feminine and child-like androgyny and something wholly other blended together into a psychic-damage milkshake, but the clipped manner of speech is entirely that of a pompous but utterly mundane Englishman.

Oh! Yufei stands up because this shadowy thing isn't a demon cultist that's trying to steal his dinner, it's some sort of abyssal lamprey. That's so much better. He's fine with that.

"Thought was what brought here. Brought me here." He scrunches his nose, pronouns are hard. "Was going to eat you. Is not harm."

"I can assure you, I have nothing to do with your presence here. I was tasked with retrieving tea for the magician." "For myself" would probably be more accurate, but there's some odd self-detachment that comes with sticking half of your consciousness in the discarded skin of a cosmic horror.

He's not sure what tea or a magician is, but that's low priority over the delicious chew things on the floor. Now that he's sure this isn't some creature trying to steal his new body, he's not on edge anymore, walking right up to him and kneeling down to grab one of the rib bones and chomping on it with teeth that are too sharp for his mouth.

"Fetch. Know that one." said with his mouth full.

Oh. Oh, this isn't actually a human, is it?

"Wait a minute... are you a hound, by chance?"

"Human." He holds the bone in his teeth while he thumps his chest with his fist, "ffbbfee."

Wait... He takes the bone out of his mouth and tries that again, "Yufei."

"Were you... turned into a dog for an extended period?"

"AM NOT A DOG." He snarls at that, baring those teeth.

"Fine, fine, be that way."

He can't say "You're not a dog" in agreement because he's not convinced, and he can't tell what he thinks is a full-blown lie.

"Am that way. Not dog. Not wolf." Instead he's a secret third thing which he's going to pretend is "human". Chomping down on that bone again sure proves his point.

"Fetch tea. Will not stop you."

The shadow shrugs, going back to making tea but occasionally looking over his shoulder to make sure the "human" hasn't changed his mind.

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Like Wandering In a Dream

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