Not quite natural

Romi

Secretly a Bird
Administrator
Supporter
Jun 18, 2015
10,109
Gender
Female
Pronouns
She/Her
Posting Status
Irregularly
The trip back was easy. He'd already crashed his way through the woods, leaving an easier trail to follow. There was nothing in his way, and he hadn't gotten very far into the woods in the first place.

The shack was easy to find, and while he was wary about shifting with someone nearby, the man hadn't actually attempted to kill him before, and there was very little he could do. He had no way to communicate, and there was no guarantee that he'd get bored and leave on his own to give Ignatius some privacy.

The shack was just that - a shack. It was little more than walls, a roof, and a door. There was only one window, and it had frosted glass, preventing anyone from seeing inside. The door was a bit oversized, taking up the majority of the wall. There was essentially room to store things, and little else, and it remained empty except for a small carpet (quite shredded, unfortunately) and a shelf for his clothes.

His body twisted abnormally as he began to shrink. Size always took the longest, and while he could only guide it to a certain extent, he tried to focus on size first. By the time he was able to pass through the open doorway, his tail was less than half his size, and his posture was significantly more upright. He was somewhere in between human and tyrannosaur, and not in the pleasant anthropomorphic animal way. Walking was difficult, and he stumbled into the shack, his bones twisting and rearranging inside him.

It took the better part of four minutes for him to be finished, and he dressed quickly before peeking out of the shack. He still looked strange, with the yellow marking across the bridge of his nose and the black sclera of his eyes, but he no longer looked exactly like a T-rex, and was unlikely to be mistaken for one without context.

Tag to @"Der Lampman"
 

Der Lampman

Well-Known Member
Inactive
May 14, 2015
727
Aris saw from up high that his mark faded from view, shrinking and morphing into something else as it reached a shack. He took it as a sign to come down, and abruptly he let his makeshift glider decay, sending him into freefall. Closer and closer to the forest floor he fell, only stopping himself at the last minute with a timely shrub.

Back on his feet, Aris waited by the door of that shack, thinking how unlikely it was for the dinosaur to have clothes on underneath the scales. Though it would be fine for him to see someone nude, the same would not necessarily apply to the person in question, and it was always better to err on the safer side.

He noticed someone poke their head out, and saw some mildly reptilian features on their face. As much as he knew people were actually likely to not look purely human, the odds of someone with reptilian features appearing in a shack where a dinosaur disappeared and being unrelated to that said dinosaur was low. Tentatively, he stepped forward and fixed up his shirt.

Gingerly, he peered inside and said, "You should get a better designer in here."
 

Romi

Secretly a Bird
Administrator
Supporter
Jun 18, 2015
10,109
Gender
Female
Pronouns
She/Her
Posting Status
Irregularly
Pink hair, green skin, and massive horns - there was really no question about if the man who had followed him back to the shack was human, even if he hadn't seen him weild plant life like he was part of it. The lack of shirt made the scar across his torso obvious, and it gave him a rather alarming appearance. He was someone who had seen combat in a way that Ignatius had certainly not. Ignatius's battles were limited to the occasional fistfight in school and nothing else. It had never been serious, and he'd never even been really hurt, beyond scraping his knuckles. While Ignatius had plenty of scars of his own, essentially all of his were simply stretch marks from his horribly painful growth spurt. Not exactly impressive scars.

Ignatius adjusted his suit, trying to make himself look a tad more presentable, even if the plant man wasn't very presentable himself.

"It's a shack for storing my clothing, not a home." He clarified, although he wasn't really sure it needed clarifying. "I don't usually find anyone in the woods, so it's not been an issue before." Normally he was free to stomp around as he pleased for however long he pleased. If anyone saw him, they steered well clear. "Do you live out here?" Perhaps that was being too blunt, but it was the sort of thing that deserved bluntness. He was talking to a shirtless plant man.
 

Der Lampman

Well-Known Member
Inactive
May 14, 2015
727
@"Thoth"

"I live nowhere," Aris said bluntly. It wasn't particularly a touchy topic anyway, as the more people knew, the easier it would be for him to find a residence. It was a possibility that this person could suggest a place. Therefore, there was nothing to be lost in saying so. "I have been around for quite a while, but I haven't found a place quite to my liking."

He stretched out a hand, inviting a handshake. His other hand willed cotton plants to grow, surrounding him. They grew and died and were replaced rapidly, leaving behind cotton fibers which he then shaped into a simple shirt that wrapped around his scarred torso, hiding it from view. "I am sorry that we started off on the wrong foot. My name is Aris. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking to, and the displeasure of accidentally attempting to hunt?"
 

Romi

Secretly a Bird
Administrator
Supporter
Jun 18, 2015
10,109
Gender
Female
Pronouns
She/Her
Posting Status
Irregularly
It said something about the island that when someone said they lived nowhere, he wasn't entirely clear on what they meant. Possibly it was meant literally - they literally were homeless. On the other hand, they might consider the whole island their home. Of course, he didn't have very long to wonder - he was looking for a place to stay.

He stared at the hand for a moment before reaching out and taking it, giving Aris a firm businessman's handshake.

"Ignatius Paltiel." He said by way of introduction, abruptly distracted by the fact that the man was literally growing cotton. He was making a shirt... a cotton shirt... from cotton he was growing.

Ignatius's brain was going to need a moment for that one.

"I doubt you would have seriously harmed me. The tyrannosaurus is built of tougher stuff, to say the least." They were durable bastards, no two ways about it. They could take a bite to the flank and keep right on going, and even shooting them with anything but a high caliber bullet wasn't going to do much. "Are you new to the island then, or..?" It was awfully hard to tell. He didn't look very human - even less than Ignatius himself did - and he really doubted he could have passed on the mainland.
 

Der Lampman

Well-Known Member
Inactive
May 14, 2015
727
@"Thoth"

"Unless you're more durable than a dragon, I sincerely doubt that," Aris said, a small hint of smugness and defensive pride manifesting in his voice. It couldn't be helped - he'd spent forever fighting much worse. No matter how durable Ignatius was, there lay no doubt in Aris's mind that he could take him down. "The mark on my torso was left by worse."

It was strange how Ignatius should by all rights be intimidating, what with his stature and his transformation, yet Aris felt nothing. Not one iota of fear.

Of course, he wasn't going to say that.

Instead, he spoke about his "housing situation". Even if he were fine with living nowhere, as a teacher he had to hold to a certain image. "I've been around for quite a while, I'd think. I'm working as a teacher in Starlight - botany, for reasons that should be obvious - and the only reason I'm even looking for a residence is because as a teacher, I can't be caught sleeping out all over the place."
 

Romi

Secretly a Bird
Administrator
Supporter
Jun 18, 2015
10,109
Gender
Female
Pronouns
She/Her
Posting Status
Irregularly
Ignatius let out a little huff, but decided it was probably better not to argue. He had never been big on combat, and while he was confident in his other forms capacity for violence, he had no desire to actuallyenact that violence. Certainly not on something that his reptile brain didn't think of as food. Too small - not enough flesh. Plus it looked more like plant then meat, and that just didn't do anything for him.

The idea of an Academy teacher being effectively homeless was... not something he was particularly fond of. He scowled at the very idea, suddenly wondering where exactly all that money was going. Weren't there supposed to be accommodations for that sort of thing?

"Does not the school not provide housing for the teachers who do not already have any?" Hell, he'd assumed that would be a major perk of working for the school. The school basically owned the island, and he was having a hard time imagining they didn't have some kind of faculty dorm set up for those who had come from elsewhere.
 

Der Lampman

Well-Known Member
Inactive
May 14, 2015
727
@"Thoth"

"They do... but I would rather have my own housing that has space, as people do not tend to take kindly to a residence more resembling explosive vegetation than an actual residence." Aris had more reasons than those causing his homelessness in all honesty, but those other reasons were more personal. And more minor. The biggest thing that really bothered him was comfort anyway.

Keeping his terraforming instinct to himself would actually be a simple matter. The concerns he had about them were more focused on himself - if he were sufficiently stressed out he would have ruined more residences than his own. And with his attempts at... familial reconciliation having hit a standstill, that seemed too likely to take a shot at those homes.

"I'll admit that being out on the move every night is a bit of a lonely matter, but it has its perks. My instincts stay sharp, I get to exercise and keep my abilities honed, and I feel closer to home. My actual home - or origin point. Manta Carlos is welcoming, but every now and then... you probably know the sensation of nostalgia plucking on what heartstrings one has."
 

Romi

Secretly a Bird
Administrator
Supporter
Jun 18, 2015
10,109
Gender
Female
Pronouns
She/Her
Posting Status
Irregularly
Well, that calmed him down at least a bit. So the school wasn't staffed by a bunch of incompetent fools who didn't realize they needed to court the best talent in order to get the best teachers. They did offer accommodations, but a man literally made of plants had more specific needs then just a house. He supposed that made sense. If he couldn't control his shifting, he'd probably need special accommodations as well. Thankfully he had perfect control of his shifting - he couldn't imagine how much trouble it would be to set up living accommodations if he was going to crash through the roof every so often.

"I wouldn't know." He confessed in a moment of total honesty. "I've always lived on Manta Carlos - it's my home, and I have nostalgia for nothing else." The majority of islanders had come from elsewhere originally, but Ignatius was one of those who had been born and raised on the island. A native in every sense.

"Have you considered purchasing land and building... well, something like my shack, which you could fill with your explosive vegetation?' It seemed like it would work out better than any sort of traditional housing. An apartment was more or less right out, and a house seemed like it would be a waste. A greenhouse maybe?
 

Der Lampman

Well-Known Member
Inactive
May 14, 2015
727
@"Thoth"

"I have other things to save up for," Aris said. Though it was technically true, it was also similar to saying that his homeland was "far". True, but horribly lacking in details. Buying an appropriate home would be too expensive, as there were so many "adjustments" that he would need. "Things more important than buying myself a new home."

And now that he thought about it, the question actually provoked a bit of thought. He'd planned originally to come here only to take his brother back home. Clearly, that wasn't doing so well, and clearly he'd made other plans. What was he to do then - stay here forever?

He staggered backward a bit, and then sat on air, reflexively growing a bush down below to keep him from falling over. It was a thing he hadn't thought about half as much as he should have. "I guess I don't know whether or not it is a good thing to never have left home."
 
Forgot your password?