There had been an influx of joiners to The Pitt lately and while it was good to see the group grow, Dante wasn't quite too fond of so many people lurking around. People irritated him and sure, his drugs helped 'ease' that irritation, it certainly didn't stop kids from pulling on his fucking wings and tail when he's sunbathing.

Which, ironically enough, was happening right now. "FUCK OFF!" Dante snarled at the couple of NPCs kids , jerking from where he had been laying down and lashing his tail - the kids squealed and laughed, running back off to their caregivers.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

Vale’s spine popped in a new and interesting location with every step ze took in the Pitt’s central plaza. The vertebrae shivered under zir skin, continuously peeking out and oozing back into the jaguar’s melanistic pelt. The changeling couldn’t quite figure out how to replicate boney spine protrusions ze’d seen, hence the extra effort.

Vale grimaced at the children’s voices; their high-pitched squeals broke zir concentration, and zir body twitchily resumed homeostasis.

“Eww, gross little buggers, aren’t they?” Vale grumbled. Ze talked to zirself often. However, given Dante’s proximity to the jaguar, it could be mistaken that Vale initiated a conversation with the grumpy addict.

Zir red eyes slid to the mutated feline. After about a second of staring, Vale batted at Dante’s tail while maintaining eye contact. “Hey. If I ripped this off of you, would you be able to grow a new one? I’m real damn tempted to see if you taste more like sushi or meat. Or even some epic combination, like… land sushi.”

pittian ★ melanistic jaguar ★ literally chaos

Vale was... an interesting creature, to say the least. They way Vale seemed to constantly shift and pop, or break zir bones in order to change form was both fascinating and disgusting. Vale did it so often, Dante had reason to believe it just didn't bother zem to pop their body structure like that - or, if it did, if zey got a kick out of it. Actually, Dante wouldn't be surprised Vale had some sort of kink for pain or whatever it may be.

The hybrid's ear flicked as he listened to Vale's mumbling and grunted. "They sure are." God, he hated kids. Annoying little fuckers; good thing he was unable to have them. When Vale started to bat at his tail however, Dante quickly pulled it closer to his body and narrowed his eyes at zem. "Sharks nor cats can't grow back their limbs, dumbass." He growled. "But the only way you're finding out what I taste like is when I'm dead." Would Vale murder zir own clanmate? On one hand, Dante could see it; but on the other, would Vale really risk it?[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

Smoke curled out of Vale’s nose and mouth, twisting around zir head. “Really? I thought the mutation to regrow limbs could hop on any species,” Vale said, red eyes narrowing. “Here I thought the animals living in the groups around here were formidable.”

The smoke caught into flame around Vale’s temples, circling zir head and forming a fire crown. Vale performed the display in the boring multi-clan meeting. This time, Vale fizzled out the fire into smoke with a sigh.

“Perhaps I should kill you. You called me a whore, remember? Consider making amends. Or I might take a pound of flesh instead.”

After a tense second, Vale grinned and snorted a puff of smoke. “Or not. I don’t concern myself with the opinions of fishbait.”

pittian ★ melanistic jaguar ★ literally chaos

The fire that fizzled around Vale's head had Dante interested and the hybrid watched it as it swirled around zir head, eventually fizzling out and smoking from where it had once been. "My days like that are over." Dante replied to Vale's comment of this group being 'formidable'. Ha! Perhaps when Yes Man was around. He mused to himself, twitching his fish-like tail once more. But certainly no longer. But fortunately for Gale (and perhaps unfortunately for Vale, depending on zir taste), Dante had no ambition on really taking over the place. He would certainly be one shitty leader and he knew this.

That being said, Dante was absolutely in for a fight or two if matters called for it. Licking one of his paws, the hybrid snorted again in his reply, "If you aren't concerned with the opinion of fishbait -" He mocked zir nickname for him (which was, admittedly, quite amusing; definitely a lot more better than being called a 'freak'). "- then the fact I called you a whore shouldn't matter, hm?" He shrugged, not giving Vale time to respond to his statement. "If you really want me to make amends as you say, you like smoking? Drinking?" He offered. "Surely shapeshifting like you do has gotta be painful."[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

Vale growled, shaking zir entire body. Fur and skin sloughed off, layer after layer, until a black wolf stood in the middle. Bat wings poked out of zir back, pointed up at the sky. They ruffled when Vale shook zir body again, doglike; the shapeshifter chose to keep their form this time.

“Perhaps we should decide on an insult truce?” Vale suggested, mumbling around a split tongue flitting behind zir teeth. “Though you better have weed. Otherwise it’s back to plan: eat land sushi for lunch.”

Vale popped zir toes against the ground, furrowing zir brows. “Why would shapeshifting hurt? Isn’t it nice when your joints pop? Good release of pressure. An important part of any shapeshifter’s day.” Vale flexed zir wings, popping each joint in succession, accidentally proving zir point.

“Does it hurt when you shed fur? It is about the same, except all at once. Requires more nutrients than your diet, I suppose. I’m not just creating protein, you know, but all the organs and meats and skins and bones and bla-de-da-da-da.”

pittian ★ crow shapeshifting into a winged serpent ★ literally chaos

The way that Vale choose to shapeshift was certainly... interesting, to say the least. Most shapeshifters didn't tend to make it a bit deal to make sure their bones popped and shifted, and yet here Vale was, making sure everyone knew how gorey and disgusting shapeshifting could actually be.

"'Course I got weed." Dante snorted once more, almost offended by Vale assuming that he didn't. "But fair enough point regarding shifting. Least you seem to get joy and relief out of it, hm?" Honestly, he hadn't looked at it that way; he supposed it would be more of popping your joints and creating organs rather than breaking them but hey, what did he know? He wasn't a shapeshifter.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

The mutated wolf shivered, shaking out zir fur and testing the flexibility of this thing’s wiggly wobbly spine. “Relief? Nah, I just get bored, man. Our perception informs our reality, and I am really damn tired of the same boring bullshit. Do you realize my hearing and sense of smell completely changed when I shifted from jaguar to wolf? Like, really. Living the same day on repeat, over and over, that’s what you single skins do. Eating, shitting, and waiting to die. Ain’t it sad most of you little critters will never be able to experience anything outside your first skin?”

Vale shook out zir fur again, dropping the philosophical ramble as quickly as ze walked into it. “Aight, right. Weed. Sativa, better have that shit. You got art supplies? Painting on sativa is lit, my man.”

pittian ★ winged wolf ★ literally chaos

"Don't start that reality shit, dude. I'm not high enough for that." Ugh, Vale going on about how perseceptions and smells, whatever, changed when you shifted was giving him a headache. God damn. I just asked a simple question. And yet here Vale was, going on a speech about who knows what at this point. But honestly? Zey were right; non-shifting animals didn't know what they were missing. They lived the same lives over and over and over, with little to no change. But fuck, Dante didn't need that reality slapping him in the face. Not to mention, he didn't have the ability to shift, so why should he care?

"Don't 'ave art supplies, unfortunately, buuuuttt..." Dante hummed, waving one of his paws in a circle to conjure up a sheet of paper - just to show Vale that he had the ability to come up with this shit (or well, technically, he stole it from an NPC but Vale didn't have to know that). "I can easily get that stuff whenever I want."[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]