SOOTHSAYER ❝ ROAN ❞ THE TYPHOON

( note ; everything in italics before the cut is just roan's nightmare, and isn't actually happening. also, small tw for brief descriptions of gore + zombification )

The air around him was still, and unbearably thick, almost as if it was trying to suffocate him. Darkness seemed to surround the soothsayer on all sides as he blinked his blue eyes open, desperately searching around him for any sign of life, or civilization. His voice rang out into the emptiness, tired but frightened, "Hello? Is anyone there?" There seemed to be no response, except for the distance sound of footsteps growing closer. As they grew louder and louder, he felt his heart rate pick up, his entire body swinging around as he searched for the source of the sound. Eventually, he found it – Sam. Or rather, a version of her. She looked as he remembered her before her death, in the same canine body, with the broad wings and small horns, except she seemed... decayed. Her eyes were grey and her body had an undeniable scent of sickness as she stepped forward, a strangled snarl leaving her, "You're a failure, Roan. You couldn't do anything to save me. You're the reason that I suffered, and why Goldie suffers too." Roan just stumbled backwards then, his voice a bit desperate as he shouted, "No! No, it's not my fault... Goldie said it wasn't my fault... I couldn't do anything... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." As she took another step forward, a grim growl rising from her decaying throat, the siamese turned and ran, sprinting through the seemingly infinite darkness.

It wasn't long before the young feline felt exhaustion dragging him to a halt, his breath coming out in harsh gasps as he looked all around him for some sign of escape. Instead, he was met with those same footsteps, his fur standing on end and his voice coming out weak, "Please... stop following me." However, this time, the figure that emerged from the darkness wasn't Sam. It was Jaime. Roan's heart sank at the sight of his brother, although it wasn't just because he had missed him so dearly. No, it was because the draconic jaguar still carried with him all the injuries of his death. His flesh was burned and twisted, with scales sticking in a jagged pattern out from his fur. The soothsayer's younger brother opened his mouth, voice ice cold as it slipped out, "You never paid enough attention... you let me die, you know. If you had just noticed me... hadn't been so spoiled and acted like you were so tired. I could be alive right now, instead of here." Roan felt tears stinging at his vision, and he tried to cry out, but Jaime wouldn't let him. Before the feline could get a word in edgewise, Roan felt a large paw lash at his face, driving him into the void below. He cried out in pain, scrambling back and holding his now bleeding cheek with a paw. Jaime was advancing upon him, and the medic was forced to once again do as he had done before – run.

When he came to a stop once again, Roan found that he was no longer in a black void, but instead in a wide open forest. However, everything seemed blurred at the edges, and no matter how hard he tried, he found that he couldn't focus at all. A frustrated growl left him, but his frustration was soon replaced by fear, when not only one, but two sets of footsteps began to approach. Knowing it would be useless to try and escape from whatever was coming, he turned, surprised to see two faces he didn't recognize. His mind was so blurry that he could barely make them out, but they felt... familiar, somehow. One was a feline, smaller than him and in shades of black and white. Her eyes, although hidden within the blurry mass that was her face, were a light blue. Beside her, there was a fox, her fur in mixed shades of alabaster and white, her eyes seeming mismatched and distant. He felt as though he should [i]know them, but when he desperately searched his mind, everything seemed to come up blank.

The feline stepped forward first, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Roan could only hear a soft hiss of sister. When she spoke up, she sounded pained and devastated, and just her first word felt like a smack to the face, "Musicbox... you abandoned me. We were family, and you left me behind. Was I not good enough for you? Was it too much? I ended up suffering after you left... it was inevitable." Roan felt tears stinging his eyes once again, and he opened his mouth, only for the fox to step forth, "We were friends. I thought you were one of the few good ones, you know. I thought you were trying to help others... but now I know what your true colors are. I wish you would've stayed dead, so we wouldn't have to know how you left us." Her voice grew harsh at the end, jagged and unkind. Roan practically shouted, a sob leaving him as he begged, "I'm sorry! I never meant to leave you! I didn't even realize I knew you until recently! I never wanted this all to happen... it's so hard, living this life where it feels like everything is going wrong again. I'm going to lose everything again... I didn't mean to leave you..." He wanted to curl up into a ball and lose himself crying, but he then felt the paws of the cat and the fox shove him back, and he knew himself to be falling.

Down, down, down, he felt, with nothing but the sound of the wind howling past his ears to keep him company. Until, eventually, he collided with the ground. A cry of agony left him as pain stabbed through his body, and he found himself thrashing, unable to stand. More footsteps approached, and this time when he saw the figure, he wasn't able to recognize what they even were. There was nothing but a shadowy shape, with the occasional patches showing out of the darkness, and a pair of button eyes staring down at him. Their voice was soft and sympathetic, although it had an edge of pity to it, "I missed you, you know. We used to be so close... we'd joke about ruling alongside each other, and how much everything sucked. We were bonded like family... but I guess you outgrew me. Just like you outgrew all of us. Didn't you, Musicbox?" Their voice then gained a dangerous edge, and suddenly he felt a clawed limb on his neck, dragging him backwards. He screamed and attempted to thrash, unable to do anything to stop them.

It wasn't long before more claws were grasping at him, and he could see the faces of all that he had wronged above him. Sam, Jaime, the cat, the fox, the creature... they were all so angry, and he couldn't even argue with their words. They dragged him backwards, shouting about his wrongdoings as they shoved him into the earth, down into the grave that he had dug for himself. Their gazes were cold as they looked down upon him, and he screamed desperately, "Please! Please! I'm sorry, I know I did you all wrong! I wish I could've done more! But please, give me a chance to help others! Roan's call was more of a beg than anything, and the crowd above him simply stared on, without remorse. Their claws moved in sync down to the earth, shoveling the land forward to cover him as he tried and failed to move. Slowly, the world became darker and darker, and everything began to sink in. There was no light. There was nothing.[/i]

---

Upon waking up, Roan could feel fresh tears staining his cheeks, his limbs shaking and nausea overtaking him as he stumbled out of bed. His latest nightmare had felt so real, and it was hard for him to believe that it hadn't been. He still felt as though he should've been atoning for his sins, with the dirt covering his body and filling his lungs. Strangled sobs left the soothsayer as he stumbled about the temple, the nightmare rapidly fading from his thoughts, but the emotion remaining. He had done so much wrong, not only in this life, but also in his last... how was he meant to make up for any of that? How was he supposed to remain the head medic and teach others, when he knew that all he had accomplished thus far was ruin? He had heard their voices himself, telling him that he was a failure. That he was why they were dead. He should've been the one in that grave. He was the one who deserved to be dead. Not Jaime, and not Sam.

Eventually, the soothsayer found himself just outside of the temple, a desperate need for air having driven him out into the open. Paws reaching up, he began to scrub at his face, trying to get rid of the remains of the tears that he had shed. However, as his paws dragged down his face, he found himself recoiling in surprise, his claws catching on... a seam? Pulling his paws back from his face, Roan looked down at them in confusion, baffled to see that they were no longer the dark grey-blue color that he was used to. Instead, they were a lighter blue, more befitting of a blue tabby than a siamese. With a frown of confusion tugging at his muzzle, Roan quickly made his way over to one of the nearby puddles left over from the latest rain storm. His eyes grew wide when he saw the reflection staring back at him, distinctly different yet somehow achingly familiar at the same time.

As he had suspected, his body was now that of a blue tabby, but... wrong. The faintest hint of decay seemed to cling to the scent of his pelt, although you wouldn't tell the body was zombified just by looking at it. Criss-crossing his flesh all over was a series of seams, making him look almost like a plush toy rather than a real feline. He didn't even want to think about how long it would've taken to make such delicate seams, nor did he want to think about a needle stabbing into zombified flesh. The gaze that stared back at him was a pale and sorrowful blue color, and his eyes still seemed to be filled with all of the emotion he had been feeling just moments earlier. Although the body felt unbearably foreign, especially with the lack of horns and wings, he knew it to also be familiar as well. This was what he had looked like in his past life, back when he had been Musicbox... it was certainly fitting, considering the nightmare he had just had. The irony of him being dragged into a grave in his dreams and then waking up zombified was hardly lost on him, after all.

Staggering back over to the temple, Roan just leaned heavily against one of the sides of it, trying to calm himself down despite the conflicting emotions that were warring inside of him. First fear and guilt, now discovery and confusion, along with a heaping helping of nostalgia. It was almost enough to make the soothsayer feel sick, and he was forced to make himself sit down. At the very least, he wouldn't have to worry about anyone trying to attack him on sight. After all, he had shapeshifted into this form, so the scent of The Typhoon – and his own distinct Roan scent — still clung to his fur. He was especially glad for that, considering when he tried to shift back, his body didn't respond at all, with the newly discovered power seemingly unwilling to listen, at least for the moment.

( tldr ; Roan had a nightmare where Sam and Jaime + several unnamed people from his previous life as Musicbox came to take their revenge on him for how they had hurt him, eventually dragging him away to a grave. When he woke up he was obviously distraught, until he figured out that he was now in a new zombified blue tabby body that is covered in stitches, very reminiscent of one of his old bodies as Musicbox. He can't shift back, and is kinda just standing outside the temple. 200th post hype!!! + a full ref done by Slyblue )

SOOTHSAYER ❝ ROAN ❞ THE TYPHOON

When Diya initially approached, Roan found himself tensing up, worried that he was about to be attacked by someone unaware of his scent. Thankfully, the first to arrive was Diya, the feline being almost like a second mother to him at this point. It would've been pretty difficult for her to not know him by smell, and that was definitely a relief. Turning his blue gaze in her direction, the soothsayer tried not to wince when he noticed the look on her face, clearly nauseated by the scent of death on the air. He wished that he could've done something, but any attempt to shift back was unsuccessful, and he couldn't exactly do anything about it immediately. Maybe he could try weaving flowers into his pelt to cover the smell, if this came to be more of a permanent issue. For now, however, he just stiffly nodded his head in response to Diya's question, throat a little raw as he spoke to the privateer, "Yeah, it's me... before you ask, I don't really know how this happened. I just woke up, and I was... different." He left out the part about the nightmare, but that's because he didn't feel as though it was important. It was hardly the first nightmare he had ever had, and it would've been too difficult to try and explain anyways.