open | haven't I given enough?

[castitas]

Who: Kate Marsh + You
What: Catch All.
When: Late October — November + December.
Where: Various.

Content Warnings: N/A, threads will be marked appropriately.

Comments

— closed to rorschach

[castitas]

cw: body horror, animal death

[ Maybe, once, she was afraid of wolves. In this place, they are different, wrong — warped by whatever forces are in play, shifting the wildlife into something more ferocious and feral. Now? Now the wolves fear her. She towers over them limbs long and distorted and claws like blades, a wide grin with too many sharp teeth. She is all wrong, but she doesn't feel it.

The woods are quiet. She leaves the wolf carcass in her wake once she's had her fill — tracks blood through the snow as she heads north towards the mountains. It's an aimless wander, but something tells her to head that way. That's where it came from — those eyes she saw in the dark, the shape that lunged out to her in a dream.

Wait.

Her movements are janky, unused to her new limbs. She turns back, to look. There's no blonde left in her hair now; just pure white that falls limp around her face — half-matted with blood. And the eyes, the eyes still shine in dark. Someone is there.

Her is low, no longer quite her own: ]

Leave.

[moralabsolutism]

[Things are often weird here in the snowy wilderness but it's been a while since there's been something that has changed people physically as well as psychologically. In a way, it's easier for Rorschach to emotionally detach when that happens. When people no longer resemble human beings, it doesn't affect him as much. It allows his black and white thinking to remain intact. That is until he hears some of the Interlopers talking about people who have started to change and he hears Kate's name mentioned. His heart sinks inside of him. Anyone else he might be okay with killing but not her.

Then Methuselah gives the heartening news she might be able to be changed back, even if the methods by which he's supposed to do so aren't things he's normally comfortable with. Well, maybe he can find a way to get her to the hot springs and dunk her in. Or, if that fails, he'll try to open up to her. If Rorschach is going to do it with anyone here, it would be with Kate.

He hears someone talking about seeing her, distorted and strange now, heading towards the woods. He goes after her. Either both of them are walking out of the woods together or neither of them are. That's a promise he makes to himself. He peeks out from behind one of the trees once he's able to follow her trail and track her down.]

Can't do that.

[He tells her, speaking the words out loud instead of in her head, afraid the latter might agitate her too much. He doesn't want to give her a reason to attack him. Kate would never hurt him normally but this....he's not sure if what is standing there is Kate or not anymore.]

[castitas]

[ If there was recognition, she doesn't show it. She just stands, staring him down — glowing eyes unblinking in the dark. The voice is familiar, and it gives her pause. But only for a moment.

She stands to her full height — more than several inches taller than she normally was, lifting her head. Her teeth shine: ]

You need to go.

[ A warning. Maybe it's how she's always been. Never to quickly snap to anger, or physical violence. Would rather warn someone off than make them leave. But it's hard to keep a hold of that part of her — to keep the anger in check. As cold as her chest feels, even the cold burns. ]

Leave me alone.

[moralabsolutism]

No.

[He say simply. There's a chill that runs up his spine that has nothing to do with the cold when he sees how distorted and different Kate's body, especially with how much taller she is than him now. He really hopes he can save her from herself before she gets lost to the monster inside of her.]

Want to help you.

[He tries to keep his voice gentle despite the naturally rough and deep nature of it.]

[castitas]

You c̸̣̱̆͑̒a̴̡͕͌͝n̸̰̹̜͇̮͂̈́͛͌'̶͎̎̎͊͠t̴̳̗͓͋̓.

[ Can't, or maybe she doesn't want him to. She doesn't know anymore. All she knows is she wants to be left alone, and if he can't do that — then she'll have to make him. She turns round to face him; her mouth opens, rows of sharp white teeth — too wide, too unnatural.

She lunges forwards.

Her new, elongated limbs make her clumsy — uneven as she moves. Like she can't quite master them right. She isn't quick, lumbering through the snow and raising one long arm — fingers splayed and nails thick and sharp to strike at him. ]

I said ḽ̸̮͑͛̂̈́̈́̚ĕ̷̡̡̟͔̭̳͕̼̎͌̎á̵̢̛͙̭̭͙͕̱͑͂̋̅̉̉͋̎̆͆͘̚v̵̛̟̳̺̺͗̎͌͐̊̉̀̕ę̴̢̟͔͚̰̳͙̜̺̠͌̒͘.

[moralabsolutism]

[The fortunate thing about Kate being so slow in that lumbering movement is Rorschach has plenty of time to see that she means to attack him. Knowing that draws claws as deep as the ones she now possesses across his heart. Rorschach's heart is too battered around to break any longer but it can still be hurt. But he'll shove that deep sense of empathy he has off to the side for now and deal with it later on.

For the moment, he's got to try to save Kate from herself.]

No.

[He skitters back across the snow, keeping away from the reach of her long arms.]

Not going to leave. Not going to fight you.

[Well, he's going to try not to. But there's no guarantee of that with how Kate is acting.]