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[ Content Warnings for parental abuse and light body horror ]
[ It had started out as just a persistent headache.
Beast - now Achilles - had gone through this enough times now to have an idea of what was happening. This sort of headache only came when a memory was also onset, and after the last one being as a big a blow to his identity as it was he decided it was better to just stay home at the Executor house and wait for it to happen. He was trying to avoid Avaritia anyway what with Greta knowing his face, so he would just have to find something to do on this side.
The one thing he didn't notice was all the feathers he was molting everywhere.
He had spent the morning looking through his book of Greek monsters again but come afternoon the headache was at its worst. It felt like his head was about to split apart and he could no longer concentrate on reading. It was when he had gotten up to put the book away though that--
He had been asleep for so, so long now. There was no more village to protect, no more companions to love... he had forced himself into isolation, only waking up and moving every so often to make it harder for anyone that might be looking for him to find him. All he wanted was to be left alone, to sleep in peace.
And yet now there are two figures in front of him, rousing him from his slumber. Queen Rotha of Cygnia herself and her 6 year old child, Odile. She seems to think he's the Beast of Demise from their old prophecy, the one said to end the royal line, and is trying to make some sort of appeal to him. But soon the appeal grows dark, as the queen throws her own child before him, telling him to end the royal line now and leave the rest of Cygnia alone.
...Ah. So that's what this is.
Sacrifice.
What follows isn't pretty. A terrified child crying and begging their own mother for an explanation, resulting in a cold hearted woman who could barely be called a mother unleashing six years worth of hatred and bile at the life she brought into the world. And for what? Because his wings wouldn't grow? Because he wasn't the heir she had wanted and was somehow a failure before ever even being allowed to wear the crown?
"I wish you had never been born--!!"
Those words are the last straw for him. In one swift movement he crushes the queen to death with one enormous, furry, black paw, all life snuffed out of her in an instant.
Wait... a paw?
The rest of it is a bit of a blur. He remembers transforming back into the humanoid form he hadn't used in over a century, hoping to not scare the child any more than he already has. He remembers trying to figure out what to do now, how to make sure the newly orphaned Odile would be safe and not thrown into government turmoil, how to even bring him back home safely without being skewered by every soldier on sight. It's while he was deep in thought that the previously too scared to speak Odile finally says something.
"Um.... M-Mister...?"
"Yes?"
"Your... Your horns..."
"Ah, do they frighten you? I can give myself some wings like yours if that would help-- see?"
--the part of his wing below where he had been injured in the Underside suddenly falls off, landing on the floor with a light thud.
He covers his mouth with one hand as more feathers fall off in big, uneven clumps. But they don't hurt, and unlike before when he was injured there's no pneuma. It's like a prop, a part of a costume, just falling apart after wear and tear. But he had already suspected that's what they were, hadn't he? He had suspected for a while now--
No what hurts... is his head, somehow even more than before. The moment it dawns on him why that is, he's bolting out of the house to find a place to be out of sight, passing anyone who might also be home and leaving a trail of feathers behind him as he does. ]
[OOC:I'd like to try and limit the threads of people chasing after Beast/Achilles to two or three, please! There will be another top level on this post after he's found for everyone else to tag if they want to react to this change, thank you! Limit reached! Here's the top level open to everyone! No content warnings for this part unless otherwise stated in a subject line. ]
[ It had started out as just a persistent headache.
Beast - now Achilles - had gone through this enough times now to have an idea of what was happening. This sort of headache only came when a memory was also onset, and after the last one being as a big a blow to his identity as it was he decided it was better to just stay home at the Executor house and wait for it to happen. He was trying to avoid Avaritia anyway what with Greta knowing his face, so he would just have to find something to do on this side.
The one thing he didn't notice was all the feathers he was molting everywhere.
He had spent the morning looking through his book of Greek monsters again but come afternoon the headache was at its worst. It felt like his head was about to split apart and he could no longer concentrate on reading. It was when he had gotten up to put the book away though that--
He had been asleep for so, so long now. There was no more village to protect, no more companions to love... he had forced himself into isolation, only waking up and moving every so often to make it harder for anyone that might be looking for him to find him. All he wanted was to be left alone, to sleep in peace.
And yet now there are two figures in front of him, rousing him from his slumber. Queen Rotha of Cygnia herself and her 6 year old child, Odile. She seems to think he's the Beast of Demise from their old prophecy, the one said to end the royal line, and is trying to make some sort of appeal to him. But soon the appeal grows dark, as the queen throws her own child before him, telling him to end the royal line now and leave the rest of Cygnia alone.
...Ah. So that's what this is.
Sacrifice.
What follows isn't pretty. A terrified child crying and begging their own mother for an explanation, resulting in a cold hearted woman who could barely be called a mother unleashing six years worth of hatred and bile at the life she brought into the world. And for what? Because his wings wouldn't grow? Because he wasn't the heir she had wanted and was somehow a failure before ever even being allowed to wear the crown?
"I wish you had never been born--!!"
Those words are the last straw for him. In one swift movement he crushes the queen to death with one enormous, furry, black paw, all life snuffed out of her in an instant.
Wait... a paw?
The rest of it is a bit of a blur. He remembers transforming back into the humanoid form he hadn't used in over a century, hoping to not scare the child any more than he already has. He remembers trying to figure out what to do now, how to make sure the newly orphaned Odile would be safe and not thrown into government turmoil, how to even bring him back home safely without being skewered by every soldier on sight. It's while he was deep in thought that the previously too scared to speak Odile finally says something.
"Um.... M-Mister...?"
"Yes?"
"Your... Your horns..."
"Ah, do they frighten you? I can give myself some wings like yours if that would help-- see?"
--the part of his wing below where he had been injured in the Underside suddenly falls off, landing on the floor with a light thud.
He covers his mouth with one hand as more feathers fall off in big, uneven clumps. But they don't hurt, and unlike before when he was injured there's no pneuma. It's like a prop, a part of a costume, just falling apart after wear and tear. But he had already suspected that's what they were, hadn't he? He had suspected for a while now--
No what hurts... is his head, somehow even more than before. The moment it dawns on him why that is, he's bolting out of the house to find a place to be out of sight, passing anyone who might also be home and leaving a trail of feathers behind him as he does. ]
[OOC:
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At the very least when she looks closer he doesn't appear to still be bleeding after all. ]
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Are you experiencing any pain? ...and do you want this back? [Can she keep the wing, please. She promises to take good care of it.]
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...And no I... do not. I don’t need it anymore.
[ Well except for when he wants to use the left over feathers to buy some new clothes in Invidia but otherwise- ]
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Is the pain constant or beginning to recede? If it's fading, I'm willing to tentatively say that's a good sign- it might have just been a result of the initial emergence of your new growths. [You know, all four of them. They're pretty pointy, it's not surprising that they hurt.] ...Although, it's odd that the tail didn't cause a corresponding back or spinal ache- it's a very nice tail, though! Very stylish.
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[ He didn’t want to say his rear hurts okay. ]
It came first and a bit quicker, so it’s just kind of sore now. But my head’s been feeling like it would split apart all day.
[ He finds it’s getting a bit easier to talk now, what with this basically being like doctor talk. ]
It’s a throbbing pain now mostly. So maybe it’s... receding?
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[And anyway, why he's growing a tail is his own business, if it's not relevant to his medical care then she's not worried about it. Sure, she's curious about the biological implications, but now that she has a big old chunk of him to run tests on she can just study that on her own time. Right now, she's on duty.]
[The admission of lingering pain gets a sympathetic nod.] Do you want me to try some light healing and see if that mitigates your symptoms a little? Or if you'd rather not, I have some nonprescription analgesics from the mall- do you have any medication allergies?
[Medic is basically never not carrying some aspirin and bandages in her pockets, at these point. You people get injured so often she's considering hosting a first aid class just to make sure everyone in this house knows how to treat a wound.]
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PUNTS WRITER'S BLOCK OUT WINDOW
[She walks forward calmly and unhurriedly, making sure not to surprise him, and gently lays a hand on his forehead. She channels vitality down into him, smoothing over all the little aches and pains- not as intense as healing a major wound, but still relieving the body of all the little accumulated day-to-day stresses of physical existence.]