paixaorpg | A Graceful Entrance [Complete]

Character(s): Ahiru, Gingetsu.
Content: Ahiru makes her entrance the way she does most things: loudly.
Setting: Joutenheim Gate, moving to Actua Are.
Time: Late morning or midday.
Warnings: Excessive haphazard behavior, naked duck-girls.

She didn't remember falling asleep as a duck.. Unless she had quacked in her sleep, Ahiru was fairly certain that she'd been mostly girl when she'd turned in. Also, she had been in her bed.. She'd had instances where she'd sleep-quacked in the night and woken up buried beneath her pajamas, but she'd never sleepwalked. And she'd definitely never been this far into the woods, even when fully conscious-walking.

At least her pendant was still around her neck, so she could just find a river and become a girl again before heading back into town. Though, she didn't have her clothes with her.. maybe she ought to find out where she was first.

A few minutes of waddling her way through the woods yielded little, until she heard the sound of running water. She definitely remembered that one of the rivers from the woods ran through Kinkan Town, so that was as good a start as any! Feathers ruffling, she changed course for the source of the sound. As she came to the river and started toddling along its banks, she wondered vaguely what time it was. Probably late morning, or something.. she was a little bit hungry, so--

Late morning?! That made her late for class! Way late! The noises of her webbed feet slapping against the ground suddenly increased in frequency as she abruptly broke into a run, quacking in a panic. It would be faster to jump in the water and run with human legs, but without her clothes..

Aah, she was going to be married to Mr. Cat for the rest of her life if she didn't make it to school before it was too late! So when she broke out from the tree line to see a large crowd of people, her momentum and distress practically propelled her right through the new forest of legs, though she might have lost a number of feathers on the way. At the sight of the enormous gate before her, she nearly fell flat on her back out of surprise, but she skid underneath the arch by the frantic beating of her wings and rain-slick ground beneath her feet--

"QUA-- AAAH!"

The rain that made the ground slippery was the same rain that fell on Ahiru's head, and the second that a single drop hit her head, her transformation occurred. Given the downpour inside the dome, the change was instantaneous. The tufts of feather on her crest were replaced with thick, pink-orange hair and her stumpy duck limbs sprouted out into gangly human arms and legs. Her pendant, once it had stopped glowing and hovering inches from her body, fell back against her bare chest.

That was the root of the problem, really. What with the "being naked in the pouring rain, in front of people." She squawked loudly, stumbling awkwardly and attempting to cover herself up, though the constant rain barred her from regaining her duck form again. So, she did the next best thing.. and dove for cover. A narrow alleyway was the closest thing she could find, but at least she was out of sight.

Only when huddled against the wall, her pulse still beating fast enough to be William Tell, did it occur to her that she could take off the pendant and become a duck again. Quickly, before anybody came in the alley to check, she tugged off her necklace and picked it up in her bill once she was a bird again.

...'Now what?'

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Rain continued to pitter-patter onto the roofs above, keeping Ahiru dry so long as she remained close to the wall. Any farther, and the water dripping down from the overflowing drainpipes would drench her again. Not that it made much difference, since she'd already taken her pendant off.

"Qua?" she glanced up, as something moved to block some of the light coming from outside the alley, what little there was. She started to back farther into the alley, until she realized that the man hadn't even spotted her. Maybe he hadn't seen her awkward moment, back there.

So, that meant she was safe. Phew!

Well, not quite. She still needed to get herself un-lost and find some clothes. And she didn't know where she was, nor why it had suddenly started raining as soon as she'd gone under that huge gate. Ahiru looked up at the tall man in the sunglasses again, tilting her head just slightly. He didn't look confused at all; calm, if anything. Maybe he was from around here, then he could help her find out where she was!

"Qua, qua qua quack!" she gabbled, very informatively, and hopped on over to where he stood. She wasn't really sure what she was hoping to accomplish by quacking up at him like that, but anything was worth a try.

Ah, so she'd been right in approaching him after all. He really was a nice person. Really quiet and serious-looking, but he was nice and- she noted as she hopped up into his palm- had warm hands. She made sure to keep her pendant clamped tight in her bill, so that she wouldn't drop it while climbing into the man's hand. She'd nearly lost hold of it when she'd started quacking earlier.

Settling onto his palm, which was more than big enough to accommodate her small stature, she stared up at him curiously. Even now, when she was much closer to his face, she couldn't see anything behind those glasses of his. She'd never seen anything like that before, and plus.. it looked like there were wires poking out of his ears.

Come to think of it, his overall appearance was a little bit strange. Were big overcoats popular in this place? Well, with how much it rained, that would probably help a bit.. still, it looked uncomfortable and heavy.

But who was she to judge his clothes, when he'd just gone and picked her up? She quacked happily, though it was a bit muffled by the chain in her bill.

She closed her eyes for a moment as she was moved beneath the man's cape, which was dry and warmer still. Perhaps Mr. Silver's heavy clothes did come in handy after all. (Without realizing it, Ahiru had already taken to terming the man as "Mr. Silver" in her head. She didn't know his real name and in Kinkan Town, people were generally named after their primary physical attribute. Thus, Mr. Silver.)

Her eyes still closed, she started to feel a tug on her pendant. Eyes opening immediately, she let out a surprised "Qua!", which was just enough slack to let the man pull her necklace away from her.

"Q-Q-Q-UAAACK!" she yelped, fidgeting rapidly in Mr. Silver's palm and making grabs for her pendant. She had to get him to give it back to her, or else she'd never be able to become a girl again! And then the Prince's heart would always remain incomplete! And then...!

'Please, return it!' was the thought she was vocalizing, though it came out as yet another series of quacks.

At the man's assuring words, the duckling calmed down a bit, only ruffling her feathers out of remaining anxiety. She understood his statement perfectly well, but one could just as easily assume that she'd been placated by the smoothing of her feathers. Still, now Ahiru was a bit curious.. why would he have taken her pendant, then? Was he a jeweler, like Edel?

Glancing up at the opaque visor again, she thought twice about that. Somehow, he didn't look like the kind of person who'd be a jeweler. And the pendant wasn't glowing around him, so he couldn't be related to the Prince's heart.

Ah, if only she could talk to him..!

Upon hearing his question, Ahiru glanced between him and the pendant, as if wondering whether or not it was safe to answer. After only a moment, she nodded with a little affirmative "quack."

Ahiru breathed a sigh of relief and quickly collected the pendant into her bill again, making sure that it wouldn't slip out easily. Fortunate for her that her human umbrella hadn't found anything wrong with it.. or whatever it was he had been looking for. It was hard to tell, with the way that visor completely covered up his eyes. Did Mr. Silver wear them specifically because they kept his eyes hidden, or were they used for something else?

The appearance of the man's journal was something new for Ahiru, as she hadn't spoken to the gatekeeper before entering the city and therefore never received her own journal. So, naturally, at the sight of the odd little metal box, she was a bit curious. Peering over at the item in Mr. Silver's other hand, she watched as he pressed some buttons and looked at.. a map? It was a map-box with buttons, then?

And suddenly they were off, walking down the street towards some location that Mr. Silver had just recently determined from that map-box of his. Ahiru craned her head upward inquisitively, quacking a few times in an almost-incomprehensible question.

'Where are we going..?'

Ahiru seemed to light up at that. Once she was inside, she'd surely be able to find some clothes. Or, at least, something that could function as clothes. Curtains had worked in the past, but she'd made sure to return them afterwards. Then she could return to being a girl and ask somebody how to get back to Kinkan Town. Maybe she'd even get a little map-box of her own; she could ask Mr. Silver where he got his--

Or maybe not. With the way he sighed, it didn't take much to realize that something was troubling him. It could just have been the rain- after all, nobody liked being stuck in the rain. But something about Mr. Silver made it seem like there was something else on his mind. She started to move to make a comforting gesture against his palm, however small, when she was jolted by Mr. Silver speaking abruptly.

Her name..? Of course she had one! Ahiru!

"Quack!" (Well, with the right inflection and complete understanding of duck-speak, that would have translated to "Ahiru.")

Ahiru was a little taken aback by the sight of the building towards which they were headed. It was so elegant and decorative, even in the rain! For the longest time, Ahiru thought that the most impressive-looking building she'd ever seen was the Ballet Academy in Kinkan Town, but so many of the buildings here were unlike anything she'd ever seen before. And she'd seen a lot of fantastical things lately.

She quacked happily as they entered, both from the relief at being under a roof and at the gentle pats that Mr. Silver was giving her. Since the building was fairly big, she figured that there would have to be some sort of clothes lying around somewhere. And even though she wanted to thank Mr. Silver for his kindness, she couldn't disclose her secret. Even if this wasn't Kinkan Town, she couldn't let anybody know that she wasn't a real girl.

So, once they arrived in the lobby, Ahiru jumped off from the man's hand, landing a little awkwardly on the floor but in one piece nonetheless. Shaking her head quickly, she slapped her webbed feet down the nearest hallway in search of clothes, and then water.

Maybe she'd leave a thank-you note under Mr. Silver's door. That ought to do it.

A Graceful Entrance [Complete]

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