Animalol

[mr_v_and_mr_c]

There is a small tree in the Nexus, with toy animals under it. Take one, they're free!

There are also a fox and a wolf sleeping underneath.

Taking one will turn your character into the animal that best fits their personality/appearance/whatever, until Christmas or whenever the mun gets bored.

Comments

[will_aurelius]

Spike approaches the tree, arching a brow at the fox and the wolf. They're rather bigger than the usual sort. And they look a bit... familiar somehow.

He approaches warily, tilting his head, and examines the little toy animals beneath. A kitten, a puppy, a tiger, a crocodile, a gryphon, a thing with two heads and rather too many limbs... a giraffe, a camel, and assorted others. A nursery menegerie.

"Dru will love this!" Spike exclaims cheerfully, and reaches down to snaffle one of the little toys.

[mr_v_and_mr_c]

"Nice, aren't they?" says the fox, with a vulpine grin.

[will_aurelius]

Spike arches a brow, pausing just as his fingertips brush the fuzzy ear of a stripey creature, and gives the fox a look. He flicks a glance from the talking fox to the cunningly laid out and enticing pile of little toys.

"...Yeh. ...Nice. ...Happen to see who put 'em here, did you?"

He wavers -he really wants that toy!- between greed and being given pause by the presence of the speaking fox. As clearly, that indicates something is Up.

[mr_v_and_mr_c]

"I think it's just one of those things," says the fox.

There is a shimmer in the world, and Mr. Croup is standing there. "Why?"

[ofpureirony]

Foxes and wolves are not in the habit of getting along with each other very well, and since they're reeking of familiarity... well, the marquis can put two and two together. And for the record, there are already certain enchantments on the marquis which may or may not be disclosed one day in a fic, so we dare say the state of being distinctly nonhuman isn't entirely foreign to him.

Still, he examines the toys and the two animals beneath the tree warily. "You know, the irony is just killing me."

[mr_v_and_mr_c]

Let me guess--is he a cat?

"It's a talent of ours," says the fox, smirking.

[ofpureirony]

Close enough, good messieurs.

"Although given how easily I got over it the last time, I shouldn't think it'll be too much of a bother again."

[mr_v_and_mr_c]

"No, I suppose not."

"Could eat him this time," suggests Vandemar. "Hard to come back from that."

"Oh, he'd probably manage. He might be reduced to a living skeleton, but he'd manage. Hardy fellow, our dear Marquis."

"How many lives you got yet, cat?"

[greyedwhite]

Silens is still wandering the Nexus, and pondering what he's been hearing about this whole Christmas business. It's completely new to him. When he sees the toy animals, his first thought is that these are apparently gifts, and since Victor has said she's his friend, he should get her one.
The fox and the wolf make him pause, as he recognizes the familiar scents. Crouched by the tree with one talned hand outstretched, he freezes and frowns, watching them with his single blue eye narrowed.
He's too focused on Croup and Vandemar to recognize the change when it begins.

[mr_v_and_mr_c]

The fox and the wolf silently watch him change.

[greyedwhite]

As he glowers he shifts and grows smaller, but not by too much. He was average height by human standards, but he makes for a largish dog, although he's still smaller than the wolf next to the tree. His hackles rise instantaneously, but he doesn't growl. The large white dog does take a step forward, then makes a small move to raise a front paw. He means to reach for paper to write, but he's lost the opposable thumbs.

[coffee_eike]

The tall German stares at the toys with a slight frown. If they are free, they are likely a charity item, and he shouldn't take advantage of something that could deprive someone less fortunate of a bit of Christmas joy.

On the other hand, there is a cute little stuffed lizard that might make a good present for Fritz. Eike wonders idly if they would accept a donation.

[mr_v_and_mr_c]

"Take one, they're free."

Surely the fox didn't say that, right? You must be imagining things.

[coffee_eike]

"I saw the sign, but--"

Eike stops and glances at the fox. Talking foxes are almost more than the German can accept as 'safe'. His green eyes narrow a bit and he pulls to his full height.

"What's the catch." His tone suggests that he's been down a least some sort of magical path before.

[mr_v_and_mr_c]

"From what we've seen, they turn people into animals for a little while," says the fox honestly.

"'S funny," says the wolf. "We've had fun watching."

[courtneycrumrin]

Courtney has seen this sort of thing before, fortunately, and has a good idea what to expect, but she hangs back and watches others come and go for several moments before approaching herself. She's been turned into an animal before and has a pretty good idea she'll turn into one of two things. One of them she's been before and didn't want to come back from. It's too tempting. She scoops up the nearest toy very deliberately and waits.

...

There's a flurry of white, her legs and neck lengthening, body tilting forward, bones and tendons shifting, and then poof! A white doe stands where the teenage girl once did.

The doe springs exuberantly into the air and races in a circle around the tree. Apparently this is what she was going for. How weird is it to get LOLed on purpose?

[mr_v_and_mr_c]

The fox and wolf look up, then grin identical evil grins.

"Shame about the AVF, eh?" says the fox.

"Oh, yes," the wolf agrees, licking his lips.

[courtneycrumrin]

The doe flicks her ear in what might be a deer's version of a wink, then leaps off to other parts of the Nexus. She'll make sure she's not followed before she goes home.