moonstrualcycle | no running in the halls!

[i mean. it's probably nothing she hasn't seen before, at some point. but no, she's not anywhere near the bedroom, and will be parked on the couch still when Lea reappears, picking at a loose thread on the bottom of her own long jacket. she looks up, and snorts.]

Your hair's a wreck.

[ Yeah but she's hotter now. No, she's almost certainly seen her naked, but that's besides the point. She looks nonplussed, then reaches up to pull the clip out of her hair and shake it out, combing her fingers through it after. It looks thick and unruly like usual, but at least it's in the vague shape her hair's supposed to be. ]

You haven't picked on my hair in ages.

You're not giving me anything new to work with, I have to take what I can get.

[she looks fond as hell, though, and stands up, tucking her hands in her pockets. lead on, Lea.]

Wow. I thought I delivered the burns around here.

[ Her hair is manageable, and Isa is making obvious signs that she's ready to go, so Lea confirms her phone is in her pocket and then heads over to the door. As she's opening it, she glances back and motions for Isa to follow. ]

You'll probably find a phone soon too, wherever you decide to stay.

[ "Like in whatever future apartment I pick out for you ~~or mine if you want~~" ]

[it'll absolutely be somewhere in Lea's place when they return, as a sign from the dressing room gods that they should bang, or at least cohabit for a while. she's following, don't worry. smugly:]

Well, I only just got here today, so you probably did until now.

[they're both full of shit tbh.]

You know, I missed your sense of humor more when I wasn't the sole target.

[ It's like rock paper scissors. She was doing good, but Isa always beats Lea, or something. Anyway, onwards! Once they're out of the apartment she'll steer Isa toward the left. There's an elevator, and they're going down. After that it's not a far walk to Halloween Town's door at all. ]

[there's probably not a lot to talk about on the way, maybe just some basic questions about the dressing room. once they're at the door Isa's suddenly looking a bit apprehensive, though; it's just a subtle crinkling of her brows, but it's there. how does this shit actually work?]

So these just look like the worlds, right? They aren't actually the worlds themselves?

As far as I can tell they're exact copies. They're just— empty. Maybe it's one world for every alternate universe out there, and this is just the baseline.

[ She shrugs, reaching for the door handle. ]

You should probably take a look at me before you go in.

Okay...

[now she just looks skeptical. you sure are hyping this up, Lea, it'd better be as cool as you're making it sound. also oh no, i just realized. is Lea going to turn into a sexy demon. is that why she didn't elaborate on it.]

[ Well, yes. Of course it is. Monstrously sexy. She makes a grand show of looking put out and called upon, but she's not nearly as bothered by it as some people might be. It's not like she's Riku.

As soon as she steps foot into Halloween Town her clothes disappear, her hair gets longer and moves on its own, as if there's a gentle breeze from all directions, or her hair's fire. She looks kind of like this, with dark red skin from head to toe that fade to black in her limbs and the long, flaming tail she's gained. There are horns on her head, but bigger than those, coming from just above her hairline in the front and extending more toward the back of her head, while still being mostly upwards-pointed. The horns are also lit aflame at the ends, coal-black and covered in cracks that burn and glow, like two burning logs that are close to falling into ash.

Lea's eyes are still green, but her pupils are rectangles and her sclera have turned black. Her hands have erupted in claws, but her legs and feet look mostly normal from this angle, just demonic, nymph-like, and the sides of her face seems to be more pointed at her cheekbones. Her ears have changed completely, and now flop to the side as goat ears. Her clothes are also just gone, leaving her naked but also covered in a cracking armor of hardened lava rock. Overall she seems taller and bigger than she was, somehow, and she's also on fire. They're small flames, but they're there. Oops.

The fire isn't doing anything to anything around her, but then, it is a costume. ]

Edited 2019-03-26 05:42 (UTC)

[now who's nonplussed? it's Isa. also here i was worried i'd be the super extra one with this part, thank u.

give her a minute to process this, because it's A Lot. hm. yes. arousing and terrifying, this is a new combo of feelings for her but it figures it would be Lea causing them.]

Well. This was fun, I'm glad we did this.

[and she turns away, as if she's going to just leave. she's not, there's a distinct difference between Isa actually leaving and just pretending she's going to to bother Lea. but the apprehension is back now and it's very insistent. this seems intensely tailored to the individual person, and she's concerned about what it's going to dig up for her. ~~spoilers: not anything good.~~]

What? Come on. You've gotta at least tell me if I look hot.

[ Finger guns. Not literally, although she would. She does fake-chase after Isa (turns out she floats instead of walks, like this), stopping directly inside the door and planting her hands on the frames. Her tail flicks like a clock hand, and she's not gonna give her a chance for a retaliatory burn. ]

See? Mine's really out there, compared to Riku's. But I've seen some that are even crazier. You can wait until you've been here more than a couple hours, if you want.

[ She's not even really teasing. It's an out, if Isa wants it. ]

[nah, she's fine, it's just intensely weird and strange. now that she's taken a moment to steady herself, Isa turns back around and moves right up to the doorframe so she can look up at Lea's face. she studies it, reassuring herself that it's still Lea in there (because how could it not be), and then puts her hands on Lea's waist to shift her out of the way. there's a half second where her heart jumps into her throat, unconsciously expecting the fire to burn, but it doesn't really show on her face.]

I'm fine, move over so I can come in.

[ Whoa. Well, okay. Lea's kind of jumps too, but for a completely different reason and not at all easy to figure out by the way her ears wiggle. Her skin feels warm and almost feverish, but the fire doesn't burn at all, and feels like a warm breeze at best. But she moves back and out of the way, reclining slightly mid-air and reaching back to rub the back of her neck. ]

Up to you. I'll be right here.

[dirtbag, where else would you be? B( Isa swallows hard, barely breathing at all, and takes a cautious step over the threshold of the room. she almost lets out a sigh of relief when nothing happens at first, but then something does happen.

an ashen blackness appears on her shoulders, and spreads itself down her arms and torso until it's covered her entire jacket, and then keeps going almost to the ground before solidifying into the familiar Organization coat. in the meantime, her face has done what always does when she goes berserk; her scar has spread out, and her eyes are glowing, wide and panicked. but there's no supernatural glow around her, no fangs, no bristling hair, and no weapon in sight. it's just her, and what becoming a Nobody did to her. she seems to be frozen in terror.]

[ Nope, nope, the last time she saw Saïx she got a claymore to the gut- wait. This isn't Saïx though. This is Isa. Lea resists the instinct to escape, freezing where she is — the fire turns into a darker red, but otherwise she looks calm, just on guard. She waits a beat, then hovers closer. ]

Isa? Let's go back.

[Isa doesn't want to move, or breathe, or even shift her eyes, in case this is what's actually happening and the prior couple of weeks and also the last few hours have been an extremely detailed and elaborate dream or something. when she does move, it's to raise one arm and press her visibly trembling hand to her chest. at least her heart is still there, though it's beating so fast it's almost humming.

she heard Lea speak, but as a safe person, not Xemnas or Xigbar or any of the slew of very bad people she's been around in her life, it didn't really register in her brain. some part of Isa is distantly pissed that she got this instead of something cool like Lea's "costume".]

[ This is what you're gonna do, dressing room? You're gonna be a dick right off the bat? She will fight you. Don't think she won't set this shithole on fire right now. ]

Isa. You're all there. Just take a couple steps back. Just trust me.

[ She's moving forward, because right now the risk of pain and injury is less important than making sure her newly returned best friend is okay. She will take a claymore to the face if she has to, because leaving friends in a state like this is not her m.o. ]

[i guess the lesson here is that if you go in expecting the absolute worst, you'll get the absolute worst. that or i'm an rp sadist, which is true.

she finally blinks and comes back to herself, eyes shifting just slightly over to stare at Lea. Isa doesn't even know if she can still summon her weapon, not that she's wanted to, so that's not going to be an issue. it takes her another few moments to process what Lea said, and then she does just back up, stumbling over her own feet to get back out to the hallway. the Organization coat turns back into her jacket immediately, but the glow in her eyes is slower to fade, not that she can see that. she's just gonna. sit down, right here on the floor.]

[ Lea says fuck you, dressing room. She's immediately out the door and stepping partly over Isa, slamming the door shut behind them. She's her normal size, and completely back to her normal human self, all traces of the costume gone as she plops on her ass next to Isa.

She is sure as fuck not going to mention the eyes. ]

It's gone. See? Both of us, back to normal.

[Isa's shaking all over now, hand still pressed to her heartbeat. her ears are ringing and there's a hot flush on her face, and she sat down because the only other option was to fall down, but she's also smiling crookedly. maybe the dressing room broke her, who knows.]

[ Ugh no we don't need trauma on every end. Lea looks very much like she's in distress, because when she's not being a heartless menacing fuckhead it's impossible for her to mask her emotions like that. Even if she could, Isa would see right through it. She can't think of anything else to do, and her words aren't making it through, so she huffs and wraps her arms around the other woman. This is not a hug she's getting out of easily. ]

[after just a few moments she moves her hand away from her chest to rest it on Lea's arm, not to push away or anything, just to acknowledge her. the shaking is already stopping, or at least lessening, and she's making a clear effort to steady her breathing. it's another couple of minutes before she can speak, though, and when she does it's quietly:]

Do you remember the first time we made it into the castle without anyone finding us?

[ Lea huffs again, a sigh of relief this time. She was starting to get scared. She doesn't know how to handle this Isa anymore. Or yet? Not really. She doesn't know how to bring her out of a panic attack, aside from raw determination. ]

Yeah. Thanks to you.

Even though I got us in, I was so terrified they'd find us and, I don't know, kill us or something.

[pause.]

That is what actually happened, I guess, eventually.

[she's already compartmentalizing and getting all the psychological shit securely locked down, as she does. now she's just kind of leaning against Lea; she'll never be able to properly express how grateful she is for how Lea deals with this kind of thing.]

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