lostcarnival | [ALSO Closed]

Who: Foster and Tyki, later Foster and The Man Gongenzaka
When: D34
Where: Lakeside
What: Foster raises an abomination of a squirrel at Gongenzaka's request.
Warnings: Foster, animal death, self-injury, the creation of an undead squirrel-man.

This is the second time Foster's been asked to do this. Not this specifically, of course, but 'this' as in the creation of some sort of... made-to-order necromantic test subject for soul-based magic. If he counts Herbert's secretive experiments (and he's trying not to think about that, how directly he contributed to his own present misery in physical form), that's three. He can't help but feel a little like he's being taken advantage of, but he can't quite put his claw on why. Maybe it's just that he knows he's really meant to be used in a more literal fashion.

He's never tried to put a body into this particular shape before, and he's not stupid enough to do it by the barn, so he's brought the squirrels he's trapped (three of them, just in case) up by the lakeside, where his magic can be worked undisturbed... and mistakes are easily disposed of.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Foster stares at Gongenzaka for a few seconds, eyebrows raised. His expression is almost excruciatingly neutral--it's benign enough to be inoffensive, but otherwise not terribly expressive. It's like he can't figure out what Gongenzaka's point is supposed to be.

"I'm done, if that's what you mean."

He waves again, this time demonstratively, as he begins to wade up towards shore. Wet and dark with it, his every bone is cast in sharper relief, and he looks positively moribund--

Though Gon has no way of knowing it, he's called the squirrel back already--it simply has yet to arrive. After the raising, he'd let it loose in the woods for a while to figure itself out (he really just wanted to get it out of the way), but he can tell it didn't get all that far.

"Are you ready?"

It's not a spurious question. Given Gon's blatant squeamishness about the whole thing--

Well.

He had better be prepared, because there's an incoming abomination in three...

Two....

"Aah...yes," the taur states-perhaps, answering both. He loosens his stance only slightly, ears twitching when he begins to hear sounds. Abruptly he straightens, like a dog on high alert...

...Only to blink as...It? Comes out?

In Gongenzaka's mind, it looks a bit like an enormous lemur, complete with over-large eyes. The main differences include such things as the very rodent-like teeth, and certain features in the tail, the odd and awkward hunch it tries to hold itself to, and...

Gongenzaka's response isn't disgusted, but it is certainly curious, if only because it actually takes a moment before he catches the scent of what the hell it is. "MNH-! A squirrel!" he observes, finding himself impressed despite the source. There is still the smell of death after all...he cannot ignore that.

Still. "...Considering what you told me, regarding your experience with humanoid forms, you have done a rather impressive job, if anything."

wat

"You should have seen the first attempt," Foster replies dismissively, though he might also be judging himself by a different standard. The fact that this one still looks so much like an animal is partially by design, but it's something he considers a failure on his part anyway. It's bipedal, plantigrade even, but still carries its upper limbs in front of its chest, round human-like eyes searching back and forth with obvious rodentine curiosity.

While Gon can only see the incisors right now, the rest of its teeth are actually uncomfortably human; the squirrel kept those distinctive rodent gnawers, yes, and there's a small gap on either side of them, but instead of a full diastema, it's followed by human canines, then molars and even premolars--the better to fill in its new forward-facing primate-style skull, maybe.

"Anyway, will this do?"

He's not sure he wants to have seen the first attempt. "...I, the man Gongenzaka, shall take your word upon this..." he mutters, frowning a bit. The effort is...appreciated at least.

Hopefully things weren't. Wasted. (It's really just unpleasant to think too long on that, so he moves on)

"This should do fine; what is left, is the matter of poison. Given that it is the first attempt on my own behalf, minor ailments were something I, the man Gongenzaka, felt best to practice healing... ...naturally however, with regard to what they are or are not susceptible to, I must look to you."

In other words, just what kind of poison...Will affect a dead thing?

Foster looks at the man-squirrel, uncomfortable amalgamation that it is, his expression strangely bland.

"Anything that doesn't drain... mmmm, let's call it vitality. Ha ha. Anything but that should be the same." He pauses, tilting his head at Gongenzaka. "It is a soul, after all."

However, since he can pretty readily assume by now that Gongenzaka doesn't know anything about necromancy:

"There is no... limit to that kind of thing in a corpse. Energy, stamina, all of that... depends on some specific balance relative to the expenses required to remain alive. A dead thing doesn't manufacture energy, and it doesn't expend any."

"Hmmm! That is all, then?" Well then. He considers it for a moment-and then, rather than address the matter further, pauses to allow a spell to activate. Briefly his aura glows-before dust condenses at his side, and a cheetah yawns.

"HaaaAAUUUU.... ...Well, if energy and vitality are the only limits, then certainly something that inhibits physical aspects should be testable..." the cat immediately notes, before blinking toward Foster. "And hello to you, I suppose... ...I don't suppose you have a suggestion..." Marishi, being the part of Gongenzaka who is a bit less strict on their personal core, isn't doing much to hide any annoyances they may have with Foster.

If anything, she's probably absolutely inclined to test him wherever she can.

Oh boy.

[ALSO Closed]

no subject

to be fair to gon-squirrel is much smoller than person so...

Not any more it's not

eyyyy

no subject

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