[early morning cat posting]

[sevenhorrorsmods]

Who: everyone
When: July 25
Where: class 3-C
What: a few visitors!
Warnings: none!

[On Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. on the dot, the student body is awoken not by the bell, but by the sound of meowing echoing over the intercom.

[It's not just the PA system, either. Soft, gentle, and very cute mewls fill the classroom hallways; distant on floors one and two, but much louder on floor three. Intrepid explorers who follow the noise will find that one of the third floor classrooms has been overtaken by a pack of ghostly cats!]

[Each creature is the size of a normal housecat, and has the mannerisms of one. That is, they will attempt to hop into your lap for some prime cuddling time, ears and tails flicking adorably all the while. Their bodies are a pale, ghostly white, and their eyes glow a soft, gentle blue. Although they are translucent, they are still solid to the touch, and they feel just like a normal cat does. Soft fur and everything! Aren't they precious? Aren't they just so stinkin' cute??? DON'T YOU JUST WANT TO SMOOSH THEIR ROUND LI'L KITTEN FACES??]

[So long as characters are kind to the cat spirits, the Nekomata are completely harmless. They just want to play and snuggle!! Although. . .]

[Anyone who touches a cat spirit will find themselves hit with a sudden need for physical contact. This can range from something small (desiring a high five) to something bigger (needing to CUDDLE THE SHIT outta someone). Being surrounded by more than one Nekomata means the compulsion becomes stronger, too! One cat means it can probably be safely ignored, but five?? If you don't HOLD SOMEONE'S HAND RIGHT THIS SECOND you JUST MAY DIE!!]

[Oh, so you don't like cats? No problem! The Nekomata are mischievous creatures, and they WILL leap onto people's backs and shoulders without warning. Being cat spirits, they can also teleport from one place to another, so. . . you can be minding your own business one second, blink, and then be staring into the eyes of a cute cat spirit perched on your lap the next.]

[The Nekomata will be drawn towards members of Anzen more than anyone else per their target lock curse, but they are excited to shower literally anyone in a bit of cute kitty affection, regardless of their homeroom]

[Please let me know if your character is being violent and/or aggressive towards the Nekomata. Otherwise, enjoy some compulsive physical bonding with a cute ghostly flair!]

Comments

[ratiocinations]

But I beg of you, I can answer all of that after.

[velluminous]

Bah! Mammon spare me his final coin.

[ SNAGS HIS HAND. ]

[ratiocinations]

[And coming to a stop so that he stops her, too, from their continuous walk.

There it is again. That relief, the warmth of touch — yet as his sharp gaze moves from her hand up to her face, another itch tickles at the inside of his skull. The desire only halfway fades… he trails his gaze up… higher… to her horns.]

Might I ask something particularly bold? I pray you forgive me for it later.

[velluminous]

[ Severine feels—nothing notable. hand-holding. such a basic thing, if half-forgotten. no one wants to touch the tiefling who burned down the school and disfigured the beloved headmaster.

but he certainly, truly, and wholly is ensnared by this, isn't he?

she can't help but have a little fun.

making to withdraw her hand again: ] Mister Adair, please. We are but strangers.

[ratiocinations]

[Tightens his grip, unwilling to let her slip away so quickly unless she makes an honest effort to do so.

He is not so oblivious to think that she’s suddenly become coy. That is far from what he’s gathered of her personality thus far.]

Nothing lurid, nothing abhorrent. I’d not ask unless I felt it were necessary.

[velluminous]

[ in honesty, this compulsion unsettles her. he has never seemed so out of control of his own doing. ]

Nothing morbid. [ those ... interests. ] Go on.

[ratiocinations]

[Morbid? Hello?]

What? What sort of man do you take me for?

[If he felt that sort of compulsion, he’d have enough dignity to walk away. He’s sure of that.]

Your horns.

[velluminous]

Yes? What of them?

[ratiocinations]

May I…

[His free hand gestures in a little flourish, his fingers not quite brushing against her horns, but pretty darn close.]

…examine them by touching?

/2

[velluminous]

[ it must be killing him not to know ]

[velluminous]

If you must.

[ratiocinations]

[From day one, he has been curious about them, but never so bold as to encroach upon her personal space to ask something so tactless. But now, it is an easy thing to request, feeling so crucial to this moment that he might actually expire if he doesn’t get to touch those tall, striking horns of hers. To truly examine a part of her that makes her different from that of a human.

The opportunity now feels like it’ll never present itself to him again. And yes: it’s killing him not to know.]

I thank you.

[A grateful yet hurried murmur. He does not release her hand. But now he adds to the connection by reaching out with his other, and experimentally trailing the tips of his fingers from the base of one horn all the way up to its tip — assuming she doesn’t change her mind and pull away.

His focus is intense. How do her horns feel?]

[velluminous]

[ they feel hard as bone, beneath what could only be the thinnest layer of skin. there is no softness to them. where an animal horn would be protected by a sheath of keratin, for Severine, hers are more like that of a giraffe; a certain softness along the path up to their tapered points. there, the flesh seems to gradually fade out, to be replaced by that hard layer only. it is difficult to find the exact point where skin becomes bone, but since he's touching, with some care he may find it. where the shade of blue begins to blur into yellow.

being touched like this while he holds her hand is—a bit much. despite herself, her chest grows tight, and her breathing faster. she cannot help the discomfort of a human touching her horns. they are strong, but not unbreakable. she doesn't enjoy feeling put under the microscope.

perhaps she grips his hand tighter. unconscious indication of her wariness. ]

[ratiocinations]

[Maybe she’s noticed by now that this seems to be the overall takeaway from Mr Adair – that there are times when he looks at a person as casually and indifferent as any man, and others when he gazes at them as though he is peering at them beneath the magnified lens of a microscope.

The squeeze of her hand, her quickening breaths. She’s uncomfortable; but the notion is secondary to the feeling of her horns, the information gathered by being allowed examination. What can he compare it to? The soft antlers of a stag’s? No, not quite. Up top, there is the transition from thin-skin-like to pure, hard bone. The gradient of color seems to indicate this change.

Details, details. He does appreciate the details. Eventually, this seems to be enough to make that strange compulsion fade, and with one more drift of his fingers downward, he drops his hand to his side.

........weirdly, now he feels he must apologize, but of course what comes out is:]

Are you afraid I’ll hurt you? They are not so delicate, these tiefling’s horns of yours.

[velluminous]

[ what a normal thing for him to say. the man with grisly, corpse-dismembering, purely hypothetical interests. she steps back with a slight shiver as his hand falls.

they won't break for a touch, but they can still be broken. they are still growing from her skull.

brushing her own fingers over her horn, as if to soothe away the residual tingles of his touch: ] It is strange, yes. No one has ever held them like this.

[ratiocinations]

[Corpse-dismembering? 😭😭 Girl don’t make him sound like a serial killer

He sticks his hand in a trouser pocket, eyes briefly glancing away. If no one has ever held them like that, then his request must have been quite brash and improper, indeed, and no wonder her grip had stiffened in his other hand.

MAYBE HE SHOULD APOLOGIZE, ACTUALLY…]

Ha! So now you’ll think me a cad. Do forgive the impulse, as I said. I’ll not ask again.

[velluminous]

[ it was a lover's touch, a caregiver's touch. few have ever filled that particular niche. ]

It is my hope that it sufficed.

[ratiocinations]

[By Jove, don’t let him know she’s equating it to that.]

It’ll do, yes.

[velluminous]

And?

[ratiocinations]

[ …

Drags his eyes back to her, a small look of realization. His manners really do go flying away at the most random times, and rarely does he regret it, but he feels like he should not neglect them now.]

And thank you, my dear madam, for humoring these ignominious feelings.

[velluminous]

[ the slight uptick of her brows is his first indication that she had not been asking for direct apology, nor did she expect to receive one.

clarifying: ] And your findings.

1/2

[ratiocinations]

[





By god, he needs Watson to help him navigate these treacherous conversational waters.]

[ratiocinations]

[Immediate:] It is a feeling of a great, inexplicable desire for touch, so profound that it is not only distracting but disturbing in its fullness. It lingers only slightly now — whether because you acceded to my request or because the cats are two stories up, I cannot say. I had no such feeling amid only a handful of them. I was on the third floor for about three hours before you arrived.

[velluminous]

[ make no mistake that she will be scribbling all this onto that scrap of paper she's calling her notebook, but before that, her lips... actually twitch in a faint smile.

again, she clarifies. ]

Of my horns.

[ratiocinations]

[;djaf oh my GOD

Inhales.]

My assessment of your horns?