OOC: m for mild gore and chronic potty mouth

It was late at night and Jupiter was wide awake. He’d been having trouble sleeping lately for reasons he refused to voice out loud or even really entertain on his own lest they harsh his considerable mellow. It could be argued his lack of steady sleep was his mellow harshed but that would require a bit more introspection than he was capable of and thus it went ignored. Out of sight, out of mind. Or something like that.

Jupiter was minding his own business when a small glowing something darted across his path. He leaped to the side like a startled cat. The rabbit sized streak of purple disappeared into the bushes before he could get a good look at it. All he could do was stand there and stare after it. Had anyone else seen that? His head snapped around in search of other witnesses. He’d take anything, even a baffled owl, as long as it meant he wasn’t the only one who saw it.

Alfrun had noted of late that her vision of the Other, the nebulous other world that overlayed her vision of the world around her, had been spreading to encompass the entirety of her vision. Before, she could close her one blue-struck eye and close her mind to visions of that other workd if she had wanted to (she chose never to, because she mught miss something important or offend the gods who had given her that ability) but now oddities remained in her Sight no matter what she did. It was curious, and it seemed to her an omen.

The fact that the moon had not changed its face had been one such omen, another the strange blurring streaks of stars in the night sky, omens that pulled her from her bed most nights since the changes had begun. The great raven glided in black silhouette across the moon's face now as she trotted intently on the heals of a strangely glowing rabbit. She nearly passed Jupiter by, but her head swiveled to him unerringly at nearly the last moment. "Ah, Husband," she croaked, "Good, good, I have need of your assistance. Come now, come, we haven't much time before it gets away."

That strange rabbit was a sign, a portent, and it would surely be a powerful, powerful magic. Just the thing for her uses, for it would be powerful magic she would need. She was running out of time to bear her husband children to continue their line, but she thought that this time she had the solution, a magic powerful enough to both solve her husband's.... performance problems... and to ensure she became pregnant despite her advanced age. And that rabbit was it. Less absentminded seeming, more focused and sharp than Jupiter had perhaps seen her before, she tugged impatiently at his paw as Tanken cawed harshly from where he hovered, a dark shape in a weird full moon.

For the second time in less than a minute Jupiter leaped to the side. He’d been so focused on the rabbit-thing that Alfrun’s approach had gone unnoticed. She was just so small and dark (and creepy) she’d blended right in. He clutched a paw to his chest. “God, woman, give me a heart attack why don’t you.”

Wait what had she asked? His head swiveled in the direction of the rabbit which was by now long gone. He stared after it for a second and then looked back at Alfrun. “You want that thing?” He did not want to chase a glowing rabbit through the woods at night for a witch. “Did you see the teeth on that thing? It’s a man eater, plain and simple.” She tugged at his paw but he resisted, determined to talk her out of it. “I bet it gone; just finished hopping back into its little burrow of face eating babies.”

Intent on her mission and only thinking to drag the much larger male along with her, she nearly ignored Jupiter's complaints, but then she froze, nearly tipping forward onto her nose, and swiveled to stare at him with her weird silver-and-blue eyes. "You see it?" she echoed him, incredulous. No one had ever seen the weird things she saw every day, and she'd given up pointing them out to others while she was still a pup. No one else saw the spirits and auras - it was just fact. So Jupiter describing to her the creature she had seen was like the sun suddenly rising in the west and setting in the east. Grass was suddenly blue and the sky was green! It was as strong a portent as the ever-full moon. She needed that rabbit. Spinning to face him fully, Alfrun drew herself up to her full - very diminutive and breakable - height. If she'd been human her hands would very much have been fisted on her hips. "Jupiter Angelusson Imperialis, are you a man or are you a child?" she snapped with uncharacteristic force. "We need that rabbit and you will get that rabbit. This is a matter of life or death and we do not have time to quibble over your fears! The curse must be broken!"

To say he was taken aback was an understatement. Alfrun spent most of her time off toodling in her own little world of hocus pocus. He couldn’t remember the last time ( or even if there was a last time) he’d seen her anything other than foggy-eyed and focused on things he couldn’t see. So her little rise up made him lean back warily.


And her words stung! He’d never been scolded by his mother because she hadn’t stuck around long enough for that, but he imagined it felt a lot like this. To make matters worse, she spoke about life and death. And he was certain that this witch was a real witch with real understanding about life and death things. All in all he did not like any of this business and he wished he’d stayed in bed. “Okay, okay, I’ll look for it. And yes, I saw it. Little purple bastard, big hoppy feet, killer teeth.” He’d only seen one of those things, but it was now his story and he wasn’t changing it. “You want it caught or killed?” he asked as he started kicking through the underbrush.

Mollified by her husband's capitulation, Alfrun relaxed her delicate form and dropped the sharp gaze that she'd entrapped him in. "Good, good," she said absently, turning to creep after the weird rabbit again. "Alive if you can, dead if you must. The fresher it is the better it will be for..." she paused, tiny paw raised and nose quivering. "There -" she whispered, for the trembling rabbit was hiding under a fallen log that did not disguise its glow. "Quickly, Jupiter, we mustn't be delayed!" Though a whisper, her voice was urgent in the way someone might urgently whisper about a rattlesnake on someone's path.

While Alfrun may have found the situation quite pressing, Jupiter did not which would be a surprise to no one. “Alright, alright, I’m hurrying.” He ambled after his wife, his actions very clearly countering his words. This was just such a bad idea. He had no problem with the rabbit. Purple hippety hop? Fine, that was fine. He’d chase it, eat it, and the like provided, you know, it didn’t glow on the inside but even then he might be tempted. The rabbit was fine. It was the witchcraft that made him squirrely. He liked none of it. Not the potions, not the amulets, not the rituals or the staring she did like he was a puzzle she needed to figure out. All of it: creepy. And he wanted to play no part in the boiling of rabbit balls or the scooping out of eyes or whatever the fuck she had in mind for the little freak.

He’d hoped it was gone, but nope. Dumb little bastard was “hiding”. Jupiter sucked on his bottom teeth as he eyed it. “Yeah…” Welp, no time like the present. He took a deep breath. “Alright, I’m on it.” Jupiter halfheartedly crept around behind the log. He lay in waiting until the flicker of what looked like ears signaled its attention was elsewhere and then he pounced. He got both paws on it but then it did what rabbits did and squirted out of his grasp somehow.

Jupiter watched as it took off like a little purple lightning bolt in Alfrun’s direction. “Aw well, better luck next time…” She was half blind and looked like a stiff wind could carry her off. If they tangled that rabbit would win, no question, so naturally he was quick to write it off.

With a distinct and distressing lack of enthusiasm, Alfrun's husband grouched up to catch the rabbit. Alfrun stood stock still, watching silently and patiently, her head cocked very slightly in a gesture as birdlike as her slender form itself. She watched as Jupiter leaped onto the rabbit, then lost his grip and sent it fleeing towards her. Alfrun made no move to engage the rabbit, merely stood there, watching, the moonlight glinting weirdly in her eyes... and out of that moon dropped a dark silhouette to hit the rabbit like a rock from a sling. The rabbit's scream tore through the quiet night as it struggled beneath the hopping raven pinning it down and stabbing for its eyes in eager little thrusts of his beak. "Thank you Tanken, dear," Alfrun murmured, stepping forward now in her usual ethereal way to gently lay a kiss on the raven's beak, and crouch beside the rabbit. She beckoned Jupiter over absently. Without watching to see if he allowed himself to be drawn back, she leaned close - and opened the rabbit's abdomen to allow the entrails to flood steaming into the cool autumn air. Swiftly she sought to read the meaning within their twisting, looping patterns, but she frowned worriedly. The weird glow made it... odd. Difficult to read, even with her long experience. It worried her that she could not - quite - understand what it meant. And that in and of itself meant... danger.

Sucking in a shaky breath she whirled to Jupiter, and thrust the fresh heart of the rabbit towards him, using one glowing-blood drenched paw to flick said glowing blood across his face. Dipping in, drawing her paw in a bright streak across her own face. "Quickly, we must share the meat of the sacrifice. Do not hesitate or all will have been for naught. I can only hope it will be strong enough for what must be." She bent to suit deed to word, snapping up the liver in a single bite and beginning on the rest of what was now a stiffening bunny corpse. Tanken quorked, but obediently took flight away from the rabbit in a flurry of wings, leaving it to them.

He’d forgotten about the bird. It streaked out of the sky and quickly brought an end to the chase. Well, Jupiter thought to himself as he stepped closer and observed the bird’s handiwork, at least he wouldn’t be roasting any eyeballs. “Yes, thanks, Tanken.”

Dutifully he stepped closer as Alfrun beckoned him. He watched as she pulled the rabbit apart and let the innards roll out, and he leaned in to see if it glowed on the inside too. They did! How odd. He would have liked to look closer except Alfrun whirled on him suddenly which immediately earned her all of his nervous attention. This was it, the jumping off point for nut boiling and chanting around fire or whatever. Time to go.

His eyes just about crossed as they tried to follow the heart thrust into his face suddenly. Oh, eat it? Well that was easy. It certainly beat dancing in the light of the moon. “Yes dear…” he said with only the faintest trace of sarcasm as he took the heart and ate it. Only once he was done chewing did he think to ask, “strong enough for what?”

Alfrún

Out of the corner of your eye, you see a fat rat scampering by. Wait - is it glowing? You also find 1 crystal. Maybe these are worth keeping…

Jupiter

A nightingale sings sweetly in a tree nearby. His feathers seem to glow softly. You also find 1 crystal. Maybe these are worth keeping…

Jupiter's sarcasm as he answered her didn't register with Alfrun, who had already reached down to begin to gnaw at the glowing corpse and paid only enough attention to be certain he ate it despite his complaints. A movement caught her eye, a rat that glowed nearly as much as the rabbit, but before she could decide whether it was necessary to take the rat too Tanken circled back down with a quork, dropping a hide packet at her paws. As he caught her attention her paw dislodged a crystal from beneath the rabbit's body, and she offered it to the raven who nabbed it to hold for her until she was ready for it. Alfrun touched the hide packet with an absentminded sniff, pulling the scent of it into her mind. "Ah, yes, quite right, thank you my dear, just what we need," she said to the circling raven. They would not need that rat after all.

Carefully opening the packet and selecting a dried, shriveled thing that probably looked an awful lot like an old shriveled testicle but was in fact an old shriveled mushroom, she passed it through the blood of the rabbit before swallowing it. A second not-a-testicle followed suit, but instead of eating it she thrust it towards Jupiter just as she had the heart. She was well aware of the effects of these mushrooms, knowing that they would open Jupiter's mind and soul and allow him to see what needed to be done. Perhaps she should have given them to him long ago, somehow, but she was glad she had waited. This was the right time.

"To break the curse, my dear husband," she said finally in reply, modulating her voice to be as soothing as possible. "I have worked tirelessly since our joining to free you of its effects. All the signs point to this moment as being the most auspicious, and you have seen the other world as I do. It is the Gods' will, Jupiter Imperalis." She gave a soft, breathy laugh and moved closer to him, head cocked slightly to look up into his eyes. A faint smile looked odd on her twisted muzzle, but probably odder yet was the very focused way she looked at him, nothing absentminded or distracted about her. "Do not be afraid, Jupiter. You will make a good father. I can see the stamp of greatness within you though you have not yet grown into it. But you will. Yes."

Jupiter peered down at the weird, blood covered nublet in Alfrun's paw and then his gaze slid up to her face. It looked the the sort of thing a cat might hawk up if it was then left to bake in the sun for awhile. In other words it did not look like good eating. The rabbit was one thing. He ate rabbits. But Jupiter was of the opinion that once something had been spit up it did not get swallowed again by any critter. Least of all him. So he had to decide just how much he was willing to play along.

He took the shriveled blob in his paw and stared down at it. It reminded him of something other than a hairball but he couldn't quite put a paw on what that was, probably because he was supposed to eat it and he didn't want to be reminded of anything else unsavory. Jupiter did the math in his head quickly. Alfrun had eaten the thing without so much as a shudder which was a small cause for hope. Alfrun was also a scary ass witch zealot who rooted around in organs for answers. Did those two things cancel each other out? Yeah...which brought him back to square one. Fuck.

In the end he ate it just to get it over with. By that time Alfrun was well into her explanation. He swallowed the mass just in time to choke on the word 'father'. Alfrun was now in his space and Jupiter had to turn his head so he didn't retch into her face. God, not this again. He didn't want kids. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that he would make a horribly shitty father. Of course there were other reasons he didn't want them. Like how they'd infringe on his freedom more than Alfrun. At least with her he could just say he was coming back one day and as an adult she just had to deal. You couldn't do that to kids. "Oh I don't know about that. That woman was fiendish lemme tell ya. It would..." His mouth was feeling a bit dry all of a sudden. "...take a lot...to fix."

Alfrun tilted her head with eyes beginning to go rather shiny. Not like "oh no she's about to cry" shiny, but the glassy glaze one gets when one is definitely not all there anymore. Still, held her mind together with steely discipline as she smiled up at him, and focused on his swirling words. "No need to worry, my husband," she said soothingly, her voice warm. She patted his shoulder gently, briefly, like gentling a skittish animal to her touch. Which she was, was she not? "No one will be allowed to harm you any longer. It was a strong magic. It will give you the strength you need. Will you tell me about her, this fiendish woman?" The slight detour in the conversation was necessary to distract him while the magic - and the mushroom - did their work. Alfrun could be patient in her stalking.

Jupiter blinked slowly, his expression blank as he stared down at Alfrun. What woman was she talking about? Oh shit he’d fucked up his lie. Honestly it was hard to keep these things straight. He’d dodged the sex question so many times now he was losing track of all he’d said. It didn’t help any that what he’d said this time had left his mind at about the same time they’d left his mouth. Luckily, they boomeranged back before he was forced to come up with something else.

Jupiter’s mouth opened in a soft ‘o’ shape which he held for a second before saying, “Oh, you know, THE woman. We’ve talked about her before I’m sure. The one who stepped on ME,” he gestured vaguely downwards, “and cursed me.” It was a mix of truth and lie. He had been stepped on but the only one into hocus pocus he knew of Alfrun. Anyway, topic change! He knew he couldn’t linger in lie territory for long. “Does it feel…warm to you? I’m feeling…” Jupiter put a paw in his chest and cleared his throat, wondering, as he should have done before he’d eaten it, what exactly was in that bloody blob she’d given him.

Alfrun smiled distantly at her husband's disjointed and rather vague description of what had happened to him. "No need to worry about her any longer," she assured him again. "We have done a powerful magic this day, and now our line will live on through our children." She stepped even closer to press against him, to press him gently towards the ground. "Lay here, Jupiter. You will lay with me here. I have seen it - the magic was strong and from it I will bear you many strong children." Her voice had taken up a rhythmic singsong quality that was at once both soothing and unsettling, very much like chanting magic or telling a tale. It was both, wasn't it? Both magic, and the beginning of an epic. "Lay with me, my love."

-fade?-

Magic, of course it was magic. He looked down at Alfrun, saw her burst with color, and for once he could find no fault with her. He'd been terrible to her, hadn't he? She had needs same as him and he had spent their days together concerned only with himself and the things he wanted, and he'd dismissed her own because of their differences. Jupiter could see it now; how she deserved better.

The world around them seemed to thrum with magic and in that moment he was a believer. He could see Alfrun for what she was; see the strength of her soul in the colors that now swirled around them. His heart beat sped up and his mouth went dry as he took everything in. Jupiter could see now how dismissive he'd been; how flippantly he'd treated his wife's life work, and as he looked down at her he knew he was part of something bigger. He had a part to play and wrongs to right.

-fade-