Jiayi Mao (tigers_eye) wrote in darkcarnivale, @ 2011-05-05 23:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | jiayi mao, jingfei mao, judas / ophidia |
Who: Jiayi, Jingfei (The Mao Sisters) and OPEN
What: Catching dinner before the show.
Where: Biloxi, MS
When: Right before dusk
Rating: PG-13 (brief nudity)
Everything was warm: the smell of dust and machine oil and fried dough in the air, the hint of spring and the low murmur of those milling about on the grounds around the older model tour-bus she and Jinga used as a home... when it was nap time, everything was right and nothing rankled or bristled the stark white belly-fur of the massive tiger sprawled out on the grass just outside their door.
All until the sun decided to be a bastard and move on her.
The slow inching of shadow across the big-cat’s whiskers finally crawled up her muzzle and blanked out the blessed sun with cold and dark. The first strings of consciousness followed shortly--much to Jiayi’s grumbling chagrin. A tiger’s deep, hollow groan dissolved into a wide, fanged yawn. The cat shifted on the ground, lifting it’s wide head and green-gold eyes. The sun was nearly down, which meant their ‘handlers’ would be coming soon.
The evening breezes slid over the kitten’s nose, bringing smells of exotic enticement, but mostly hotdogs. Mmm... and somewhere there was barbecue. Gold eyes opened, and sharp white teeth gleamed as she yawned. Her stomach growled and she blinked around sleepily, but hunger was going to make her get up out of her warm sunny spot. Jingfei licked her lips and then her paw, putting the fur back in proper order. Dinner... wait, no, oh, she was in wrong form...
She jumped down from the chair and crouched, then pounced on the tiger still drowsing nearby, aiming straight for the irritably twitching tail.
HONESTLY! The thought shot through her mind as it’s verbal equivalent rumbled from the tiger’s thick throat. Ears flat on her head, the older sister snorted, then reluctantly rolled to a lazy stand on four massive paws; the two pound version of her sister-kitten dangling like a bug on a wire from a tail nearly as thick as her little body.
Two heavy steps into the bus weighed the thing down on it’s passenger-side axles before Jiayi flicked her younger sibling off the end of her tail. Three seconds later, their home-on-wheels righted as it’s only occupant lengthened in limb and humanity.
Jingfei growled and hung on, determined to annoy her sister properly due mostly to the fact that if Jinga had to be awake so did someone else. But the few steps into the bus, and then Jiayi had her outmaneuvered by shifting.
Jinga mewed in protest as the tail dematerialized and she dropped to the floor in a just-barely-dignified ball of indignant fur. She growled again, and shifted herself into a human shape, growing and morphing fluidly from one form to another, taking up the entire bottom step now, her legs curled under her and she put a hand out to steady herself. She laughed, turning to grin at her sister, impudence incarnate and totally unapologetic.
“I’m hungry. Do we have time for food before they decide to tame us? And if anyone pokes me with that training stick tonight, I’m taking off their hand.”
“There’s some Fancy Feast in the cabinet,” Jiayi shot back from the bus’s kitchen, while wrapping herself in her favorite pale blue silk robe. There may have been a quirked half-grin on her lips, however, hidden behind the heavy black curtain of her hair. She arranged it out from the robe’s collar with one swooping hand--the same that shot to the bred basket on the tiny counter, then tossed her naked sister a blueberry muffin.
“Oh, gee, thanks.” Jingfei made a face, but it lightened when the muffin sailed toward her. “Thanks!” This was much better. “Mm, muffins. Someone is having steak. I smelled it.” She bit into the muffin’s bottom, saving the top for last. “Don’t worry, I won’t go begging for table scraps.” They didn’t have time.
Jingfei looked out the window as she stood up, yawning and stretching again in the human shape, settling into it. “Are they taming lions or tigers tonight?” Maybe she could just pad into the ring and go to sleep. Serve them right. Training prods. Ugh.
Ever since Jinga’d mentioned the word steak, Jiayi felt herself salivating. She wasn’t even that hungry, but the scent was indeed heavy on the air. Her stomach tightened and gurgled, dropping Yi’s morale about two and a half points.
“We’re on the Midway tonight,” she finally said, perching herself on the chair in front of the little mirrored vanity to clasp a jade-jeweled collar around her throat: one that would stay there when they willed their bodies to change from human women to tall, sleek creatures with slit pupils, feline ears, tail, fur and feminine curves. Hybrids that rubes gawked and stared at, trying to find the zipper, the make-up line, or anything else that would give them away as anything but real.
“Are we? Damn, I never can keep track.” Jingfei yawned again, contentedly munching on the muffin as she watched her sister put on the collar. Her own was sitting out on the table, the pink jewels and paste gleaming. She sighed, and wandered over to pick it up. “Should I be cheetah print or striped?” she asked listlessly. “Or just all one color. Wouldn’t want to match you too much... well, I guess we could. That might be fun.”
She ran a hand through her hair, then pulled a few strands around to examine the ends. “I need a trim. Fur never does this. Have you noticed?”
“Would you put some clothes on?” she interrupted off topic, and in Mandarin, so’s not to grab the attention of anyone within hearing distance, that Jinga was walking around naked. Again. A short huff later, Jiayi peered boredly at her own reflection in the mirror, running a comb through her hair. “Different kind of hair--think of the difference between ‘carpet’ and ‘drapes’.”
Jingfei glared at her sister. ”Why? I’m only going to be furry in a minute.” It hadn’t even occurred to her that she was naked. Oops. And standing by a window... oh well. She laughed at her sister’s comment and shrugged again. “Fair point.” She picked up a discarded robe that had been flung over one of the chairs, and slipped it on. She’d have to put on the little bathing suit sort of outfit that covered up the necessary bits when they went in their half-changed looks for the midway... where had she put that thing anyway?
She went to the back and started ransacking the first pile of clothes that looked like it might contain something small and sparkly. “Where did I put my outfit? If it was bigger than dental floss I’d be able to keep track of it...”
“Ugh, you mean you didn’t wash it?” Yi wrinkled her nose at her sister in the mirror. As tiny as the damned things were, they were still uncomfortable, especially in the tail area. Why Jingfei preferred her gem-stone lined ornaments that sparkled in the carnival’s yellow lights, like a Pop-Heiress’s lap dog, she never knew. Her own ‘covering’ was simple hammered gold wire that hugged her hips, with a strip of Egyptian linen in front and back.
“Going with black,” she answered Jinga’s earlier question with the same answer every time--when they were scheduled on the stage with the Barkers and Side Shows, Jiayi always went with all black. People tended to avoid touching her that way.
“I... did.” A pause. “I think.” Maybe. “I meant to... oh! I remember!” She abandoned the pile and went to a second, rifling through that before triumphantly pulling out the missing strips of vibrant, shimmering pink. “Black? Always black...” Jingfei shook her head despairingly. Even when she tried for black, she ended up with some subtle patterning in the fur, though it didn’t show up in the lights. She dropped the robe again and stepped into the bottom half of her outfit, which were pants in a way, that more or less looked like a harem girl had been attacked by mad scissor-wielding genies and rolled around in glitter. The were slashed up the outside and only held together at the hips and ankles. As for the top... well it was held on mostly with luck. She tied it up, which took longer than it ought to because it was a fairly ornate arrangement of strings, for as little as it covered.
“Did you eat yet?” she asked, with a look of mild concern. “You’re always cranky when you don’t eat.”
Yi shrugged her bare shoulders out of the robe in order to clasp the brass-broached strip of white cloth across her chest. Next came the bottom piece, which she wiggled into while standing--and pointedly not looking at her sister when she replied: “I’ll be fine.”
Honestly, she knew she was ‘cranky’ when her stomach growled, but part of her enjoyed that particular grudge. Made her bad temper somewhat justified--give a little more credence to Arkardy’s warnings to the crowd gathered at their feet to not touch the big one. She bites.
Jingfei sniffed in disbelief, but wasn’t sure it was worth it to argue. If Jiayi wanted to be in a bad mood, she’d be in a bad mood- full stomach or not. For herself, she concentrated on finishing her muffin and tried not to think about the yummy cooking meat smells. God, it was making the Fancy Feast sound like a better idea.
She eyed her sister, considering. “Do you want to grab something on the walk over? Arkady is going to be so cranky if you try to claw another drunk idiot.”
Yi pressed her lips together and rolled them tightly, eye-balling Jingfei right back. The pause, however, was the proof that she knew the younger was right. As outright intolerable the unknown masses were that came to leer and stare at them and Others, Arkady had sheltered them for more than a decade. He’d helped protect Jinga when she was only a child. And angering the man that helps feed and shield them wasn’t the best idea.
Even if Jiayi slipped on occasion.
Finally she nodded. A flex of her own concentration blossomed soft, flawless skin into spreading patches of sleek black fur. Her nails grew into talons, her ears elongated, caved and pointed out from under her hair, and her lengthening spine protruded into a long, lithe black tail.
“You’rrrrrrre rrrrriiight,” the long, rasp howl that had become her voice vibrated in Yi’s slender feline throat, caught by the collar. The whites of her eyes had become sky blue, where the deep brown irises of a human woman narrowed to vertical slits. She stooped forward, languidly poised on all fours--a much easier way to walk in this particular shape.
Jingfei grinned as she watched her sister’s transformation. Jiayi made it all look so effortless, just a flick of tail... Jinga always had to think a little harder. She closed her eyes to shut out the world a little better and mentally centered herself. The half-transformations were actually trickier because instead of one thing or the other you had to put yourself in two things at once. She thought of black and fur and deepest night, but the soft fur that rippled into place on her body was not true black- if you looked in the sunlight you could see it was multicolor, just very dark- a tabby with a dark dye job. Her eyes had gone golden, her pupils slitted, and soft pointed ears peaked out from her black hair. She looked down- the pink did look good against the dark fur. Her tail twitched in approval and she smoothed a clawed hand over the fur on her stomach. Her cat’s nose picked up the trail of food again, but unlike Yi she stayed on two legs. Yi could still get further toward cat without slipping over into all-cat than Jingfei could. Jinga reminded herself she was getting better- Yi had more practice, that was all.
She headed to the door of the bus and opened it to let Yi out first. While her sister looked like an Egyptian drawing of Bastet come to life, Jingfei knew she herself bore more resemblance to those unfortunate eighties cartoons. It was one reason she almost never chose to be half-Cheetah.
“Food, sisterrr,” she said, rolling her R’s more ridiculously than her feline-tinged vocal cords strictly dictated. It was habit, to play up the purring voice. It was what the masses expected after all.
As she stepped down onto the grass, she looked around the carnival camp, and smiled. Mmm, dinner and the stage. Perfect. Jingfei twitched her long black hair out of her face and then licked a paw and ran it over her cheek before she caught herself. Oops. That wasn’t a paw. Clearly she was still hungry. “What’s for dinnerrrr?” she asked Yi, following her sister’s footsteps.