hint of a circle - prank

[fulzanin]

that would weigh you down and keep from floating

//CDC Prompt: Prank

It had taken some time to realize how to turn back and forth between her small form of an aquatic dragon to her normal fluffy form. For a few days she had been trapped in that small body. It had been so strange, to be so small and having to crane her head up even more than usual. It had left her neck incredibly sore when she came and returned to her home. It also made doing almost anything far more complicated. She couldn't even toot her kazoo! It was awful and terrible! The absolute worst! There was nothing worse than not being able to play her kazoo: in her mind, at least.

One thing that she had discovered had been when she had gone to have a drink. She had been looking for some big sticks to use for an upcoming project, but had little luck. Everything that was big to her she couldn't carry because she was so small. She tried grappling with her talons and biting and dragging, but nothing had worked. She wound up tumbling into the swampy water. Hastily Feza tried to scramble out, but had then come to a realization. Ever since she had changed, breathing had become troublesome. In the water, though? Suddenly it became easier. The growing pain in her lungs diminished and her mind raised to the point that this form could breathe in water. It was strange, being able to do such a thing.

Swiftly her mind came to a plan. A fun plan, one that was not based around festivities. She was allowed to take a break from that, right? Surely the cardboard boxes wouldn't mind. If just for a day she wasn't throwing a festivity to make everyone around her joyful. Feza cared not that people didn't seem to be having fun on the outside. That was just because they were trying to uphold their serious and un-happy facade. The vibrant feline felt that deep down they were becoming happy, but just withheld it. Why? To not let her have the satisfaction of helping? How cruel, she momentarily thought. It was pushed aside so that Feza could focus on setting up, what she believed, to be incredibly funny. When she pulled it off, and after the terror subsided - which what she did was totally going to be terrifying - then there would be laughs and smiles. So, technically, it was still in line for being a festivity! Cyclic, almost.

She was in her small water dragon form at the time. She'd found a place where there was congregations near a puddle, where she had promptly submerged herself. Feza was so small in this form, and the reflection of the sun was right overhead. This would be perfect! This would be hilarious! Feza's plan was simple. She'd partially dug into the mud under the water, but left most of her head raised. She was waiting for someone to come by so that she could execute her totally fool proof plan. She watched and waited, waiting for someone to come by. Then the water dragon sprung from the murky water, a swing of her tail propelling her from the water. "Boo!" Feza shrilled as she barged forth from the water's surface at the victim of her prank.

kicking, screaming, sinking ever slowly

[suvi.]

[align=center]
— T͏O̴G͠ETH͏ER̕ ÁT̴ ̸T̕H̶E ST͏ART̶ O͏F̀ ̵TI̡M͏E —

Unfortunate.  A victim easily played into the game, yet perhaps one of stronger heart deserved it more.  As soft, white paws carried the petite vixen in a quiet walk, another moment of solitude, her unmatched hues failed to catch something small hidden near her path.  Rather they widened quite quickly at the sudden dragon, launched towards her.

Kiira possesses a strange, near silent fear.  No screams.  Fight or flight?  A startled gasp and then the dematerialization of her entire, little form.  As she reappeared several feet away, she swayed on unsteady legs.  Is there a drum in her ears?  No.  Just her heart.  The loudest sound; a heavy intake of air as she leans down on a tree, brows creasing in confusion.  Who...? Why...?

Feza.  Of course.  She had heard the girl liked her parties... Pranks seemed a small step away.  The action reminds her of Fiachra, though her raven companion had refrained from tormenting her with any scares lately.  Don't make̵ m҉e ̀f͟ad͠e͏ a̛way.̵  Her chest feels flighty.  A piercing in the center, hot and cold.

Slowly, she regains her balance, stability on all four paws.  "… H-heh..." An attempt to laugh it off.  A fake smile.  A͠l͘l ḿy̛ ̨smi͢l̡es a͡re fąke ͝now̛.͟  "N-nice one... Feza." None of it reaches her eyes, ever tired and constantly flickering.  Flighty.

✯ — suvi kiira ní faoláin. female. medic of tanglewood. beta of the typhoon. arctic fox.  ref. bio.

[cortexx]

If the idea of breathing underwater was difficult for Feza to fully wrap her head around, the opposite was true for Echo.

Her life spent in the ocean, whether in certain depths farther than most could swim or near the surface where she could hear those birds, she was quite used to the idea of breathing water, and the protection it gave her. Peaking her head out was like stuffing it into an oven - everything was hotter, the sun beating down on her scales, and it was so loud, the sea's waves rolling around her, as they always did, but not protecting all of her.

And then it was all gone. She loved the sea, even when she was in it, and departing from it was so painful - even beyond the little underwater crash she had. Her body was doing remarkably well, though. Her brain's autonomic systems (words she didn't really know, but she could explain in different words, hypothetically) seemed to adapt immediately, and she had no effort with breathing as a whole. Her only problem was with what she was breathing in. So hot and stuffy, and there was this strange taste to it all, like something very rotten had happened - it almost burned, burned, burned away at her. It was so wrong that she felt like puking sometimes.

What a coincidence that two fellows with situations similarly centered around desperation would cross paths. Two ships in the night, as they say, though that phrase had much different connotations. It was also a shame that they wouldn't be able to share these thoughts with each other - if Echo were to actually have a voice, perhaps she would have enjoyed sharing her feelings. For once.

Said feelings included the pure and utter fright that comes right before you die.

Echo happened across the situation almost at the same time as Kiira did, and much like the other - whom she didn't know yet - didn't see Feza's little disguise until it was much to late. She may not have been the one to be jumped, being adjacent to the other two, but she damn well felt like she was - her body tensed up, her forepaws pressed into the ground, ready to start moving backwards as fast as possible, and if she could she absolutely would have screamed, screamed, until eventually whatever lurked up in the heavens woke up. But she didn't scream, she couldn't scream, nobody woke up, and it turns out she wasn't even in any danger. At least, if Kiira's reaction was any indication. Feza, the petite femme had said (after teleporting, which she did not have the brainpower to figure out right now), a name she had heard before. The name of the supposed repairperson Worm had talked to. Yes, this person, who played such a prank, was certainly more befitting a name with such pop.

These thoughts somehow managed to make it to the surface in her head, climbing valiantly through a sea of adrenaline and fear. Her turquoise fur was fully puffed out, and her pupils were narrowed in shock, but her jaw stayed closed, as she tried to figure out what to do. Should she do anything? There wasn't much to say, since only 3 words had been spoken so far.

She sat there, silent, waiting for something else to happen, so that the tides of terror besieging her head could still at last.

tags - "speech"

[wormwood.]

When it came to Wormwood and water, they sort of went together like Wormwood and Feza did – badly. Whether it be in his fiery colored lion form, meant for the skies above and the humid environments of the Sahara, or his undead hellhound form, fit for the fiery depths of the land deep down below and the unpleasantly wet and hot air of the swamp, neither of his ways of life were fit for water. That wasn't to say that he entirely hated it, or anything of that sort, it was just that it was difficult for him to really enjoy himself in it besides when he was doing something such as bathing. Worm seemed as though he was the embodiment of the sky above and the burning hot flames that existed in the world, so the cold dark depths that lurked within the waves? Those were the exact opposite of his home environment. That said, it was surprisingly fitting that Feza had acquired the ability to swim and breathe easily among the water now, since it added onto the number of reasons why she and Worm were like polar opposites. Hot and cold, fire and water, responsible and excitable... Wormwood wanted to repair their relationship, but it seemed as though with every day they were actually growing farther and farther apart from ever being true friends. Unfortunately, this particular little event probably wouldn't help out at all with this cause, since it just so happened that Feza had just managed to prank two of the people that Worm had begun to like, and both of them were particularly in a state of mind for scaring.

The lion had been moving slowly through camp when Feza decided to pull off her little diabolical scheme, moving in a slow trot that made it so that he wouldn't be one of the victims of her little prank. However, it did mean that he had a front row seat when it came to seeing the reactions of both Kiira and Echo. Kiira had always been an anxious and struggling mess lately, thanks to her still relatively recent return from the Pitt, along with the fact that she felt like nobody here truly cared for her, and Echo was still making a rather grand effort in order to fit in with the group, since she had only recently joined. Both of them were trying so hard just to live and get through their lives, and now along came Feza, scaring them out of their wits and immediately making Wormwood's blood pressure rise. The male felt his jaw clench as he saw Kiira teleport away, a terrified look on her face, along with the fact that Echo seemed to be just... frozen a few steps away, her eyes wide and her face considerably unsettles, despite the fact that she couldn't scream or say anything to express it. Part of him wanted to launch into some large rant that would no doubt make Feza feel like shit about what she had done by the end of it, but this time he decided it would be more fun to take a more... alternative route. Seeing that Feza was distracted with her little prank, along with the fearful expressions of both Kiira and Echo, the lion slowly moved up behind the water dragon, stepping forward and moving to press one of his massive paws on her tail, pinning the tiny water dragon between his massive claws as he leaned down, rumbling lowly in the lost intimidating and hungry sounding voice that he could manage, knowing full well how much he could scare his fellow chaser, "Boo."

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]

[fulzanin]

that would weigh you down and keep from floating

Feza’s first thought upon seeing the initial victim of her prank teleport away was just because of the sheer shock value. After charging forth from the water she remained standing fully still. There wasn’t a fit of laughter of triumph, or a stance that radiated the aura of achievement. Eh. This didn’t make any sort of smiling or joy present. Her mind was skewed horrifically if that was the only thing she was concerned about. She knew not of the troubles of Kiira, because they never interacted. She didn’t know of the torment that had come on due to the cold and vile claws of the Pitt: and it wasn’t festive, and so she didn’t bother to ask. Echo was new, and Feza had little idea as to who she was. They were new, and it piqued her interest in the slightest. No words had been said from her, only from the one that she had pranked. No one was smiling or happy because of this. Weren’t harmless pranks like this supposed to be funny? It wasn’t as if she had bitten anyone! As far as the water dragon could tell, no one had in truth been hurt by her prank. She hadn’t hit anyone, hasn’t even gotten close! Yes, Kiira had teleported away before she could have; but that would imply that such had been her intent. She’d even been told it had been a ‘nice prank’. Perhaps it was ironic, that her own experiences with absolute sheer fear didn’t help her understand the expressions that were before her. The only expressions that mattered to her were those not of happiness. It was a harmless prank. Why weren’t there any smiles? She felt as if whenever she had been pranked before, it had brought laughter to mind. This hadn’t done such a thing. It presented a frown on her face, tongue pressing against her teeth while her finned ears pulled closer together. The opposite of what she wanted. Great. She should have gotten out the bubble wrapped sticks and chalk instead. At least that would have brought guaranteed smiles.

Feza could not change between her forms as swiftly as she pleased. It took several long minutes of concentration for the fur of her now leopard form to fall away, her ears to segment, her gills to form, tail to lengthen, and find to grow. The same went in reverse: for her body to cloak in fur, to regain her lost height, to again adorn her fluffy wings. Feza’s head swiftly snapped around when she felt pressure present into her tail. To see Wormwood of all people looming over her, holding her down, saying with a menacing tone the same word that she had said prior, it definitely struck fear into her. He always did. Always there to tell her that what she was doing was wrong. That she was annoying. It grew hard to separate the lion that was currently hovering over her to the one of her nightmares. A lion of an equal rank to her within the group being holding her down and threatening in some way? It checked a lot of boxes. Not the good, cardboard box kind: the kind that made fear splash across her face just as it had on the ones she had pranked. Perhaps if it had been anyone else, she would have laughed and thought it to be them trying to one-up her own abilities. Not him. Her long claws pulled at the grass, trying to move away from the lion that held her down. This form was small, it was weak, and it was not as if Feza had any knowledge to fight back. Her usual babbles were nonexistent - they were struck down by the need to absolutely get the hell away.

//mobile

kicking, screaming, sinking ever slowly

[wormwood.]

If Wormwood was being honest, he had known that he was being a bit of a dick when he surprised Feza and echoed her "boo" back at her in the most menacing tone that he could manage. After all, he knew that Feza was terrified of him, and even thought to himself before about how much he hated that fact, and yet he was using it to his advantage? He wasn't proud of himself for it, but honestly he had just been fueled by anger over thr fact that she had terrified Kiira and startled Echo with her childish little prank. He had acted based purely on emotion, something he had been trying his hardest not to do lately. Internally he reprimanded himself, which seemed to be the same thing that Feza had been doing before he had stepped forward to scare the shit out of her with his comparatively huge size. Evidently it seemed as though she at least understood that her little "joke" hadn't actually made anybody happy, but had just struck fear in Kiira and Echo. As far as he knew from the extremely limited understanding he had of what Feza was actually after, she wasn't after fear or terrified resentment. Rather, she was after smiles and cheerful laughter, which there was certainly a rather disturbing lack of in this particular situation. Honestly, given how on edge Wormwood had been lately thanks to the capture of his son and the frequent attacks on them by The Pitt, Feza was extremely lucky that she hadn't actually surprised Worm himself, since the lion definitely would've immediately lashed out. Considering how small Feza was in her little dragon form, it was entirely possible that if he had lashed out at her in her current state, he probably could have easily killed her, or at least could have rather thoroughly wounded her to the point where she could have joined. So it could be considered lucky that she had scared Echo and Kiira rather than him, but honestly it probably would have been best for everyone if she just hadn't tried to pull off the poorly thought out prank in the first place.

He grinned almost maliciously down at Feza when she swung around to face him, unaware of the nightmares that plagued Feza commonly these days that this scene reminded her of. When she struggled beneath his claws, her expression turning to one of panic and fear, her body flailing between the sharp daggers that adorned his paws as she tried to get away, Worm found that he expected her to start babbling some nonsense over how she had just pulled the prank in order to bring joy to others, or something else like that. However, rather than babbling and stammering some poorly thought out excuse, her voice was actually curiously absent, the only noise being that of her frantic and terrified panting as she scrambled away from him. He waited a few seconds before he let her up, lifting his large paw off of her so that she could get away, watching her flail forward and nearly fall upon her face as she slammed herself forward, her eyes wide. Sitting back on his haunches, the chaser said as his tail lashed slowly from side to side, a grim and irritated expression on his face as he rested his paws against the dirt again, his claws sinking into it a bit, "What's the matter, Feza? I was just trying to show you how you properly scare someone, you know? It was just a joke, just like you pranking Echo and Kiira. There's no need to take it so seriously." Perhaps he was being cruel about the way that he was going about this, but he had to lay it on thick as hell for Feza to actually understand why what she had done was shitty, particularly when it came to scaring Kiira. At least Echo was an adult, even if she couldn't express her fear, but Kiira was just a small child who was already scared out of her wits just from day to day comings and goings.

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]