Owls: Sorting Bribes

[ayameonaplane.livejournal.com]

Ayame had spent most of the time since his sorting holed up in his room, which was now covered in snippets of thread, designing and sewing and getting house-elves to go find out people's measurements for him. Finally, his sorting bribes were done. A flurry of owls went out, each bearing a package and a note. They're not warded, because Ayame's been too busy sewing to learn any magic yet.

The package contains a wool cloak and a night gown.
My apologies for the delay. Please let me know if either piece requires further fitting, and when you are ready to get to the bottom of the shameful business hinted at in the application.
Cordially,
Ayame Sohma
---
The package contains a kimono.
Tomo-san:
I hope this fits! Let me know if it needs any alterations made.
Ayame Sohma
---
Not actually a package, but a large envelope holding several shirt collars folded out of crisp white paper.
Mr. Scott:
Here are the first samples of the official Dunder Mifflin uniform collars.
Ayame Sohma
---
The package contains a bowler hat.
Please accept this in thanks for sorting me into Slytherin House.
Cordially,
Ayame Sohma

Comments

[ayameonaplane.livejournal.com]

"And who am I to oppose tradition?" Ayame asked. He took hold of the end of the sash, and pulled it away with a flourish. He looked quite elegant, standing with one hand on his hip and the other held out, the sash flowing away in a gentle curve.

At least, he did until Tomo careened into him. The collision followed the Sohma-specific version of Murphy's Law - if a collision can possibly be considered a hug, it will be. The curse did not allow for any benefit of the doubt, which is why Ayame was now a small grey snake. He slithered quickly out of the folds of his clothes, not wanting to take the risk that Tomo would step on them and, consequentially, him.

"Well, that was graceful," he commented.

[tomowildcat.livejournal.com]

((Wow. This icon has never been more appropriate.))

As Ayame pulled the sash, Tomo went into a spin that looked elegant - for maybe two rotations. "WHOO-HOO!" But, as usual, she overdid it. Her foot slipped on something, and Tomo wobbled, still spinning like an out-of-control top, leaning one way and then the other before she finally lost her balance and went flying smack into Ayame. They went down with a tremendous crash and a tumble of limbs and fabric and...

...smoke?

Tomo sat up, dazed, looking around. "Ayame?" Blink. Blink. No sign of him. "Where'd he go?" She stumbled to her feet and finally noticed the familiar clothes on the floor. She started to pick one up, and recognized it was what Ayame had been wearing. But there was no Ayame. "AUGH! I BLEW HIM UP!"

Not gonna panic, not gonna panic... too late. Commence flailing at Mach 5.

She hadn't noticed the snake yet, although she might once she ran out of steam which would be shortly as Tomo tended to burn herself out quickly and didn't understand the concept of pacing herself. "What am I gonna do? I turned him into clothes! But I didn't have my wand! How'd I do that?"

...from the girl who wanted to be a detective, this was probably not a promising reaction.

[ayameonaplane.livejournal.com]

Ayame sighed. He'd forgotten how much of a hassle it could be to have to calm someone down enough to explain - it had been years since he'd been hugged by someone who didn't already know about the curse. And most of those encounters hadn't required much explanation, anyway, just a quick visit from Hatori.

But Hatori wasn't here, or anyone that would insist on a memory wipe. And Ayame quite liked Tomo - even if he was able to have her memory suppressed, he would feel awful about it. For a while, at least. So explanation it was.

"It's ok," he began, but she was too busy yelling and flailing to hear him. So he paused for a moment, and tried again. Louder, this time; much louder.

"HEY! DOWN HERE!" he yelled, hoping to break through her panic before she did something really stupid, and before he transformed back. If possible, people tended to react even worse when he "reappeared" naked than when he "disappeared." Of course, Tomo wasn't exactly the typical accidental hugger, but still...

[tomowildcat.livejournal.com]

((Sorry this took so long, I honestly had no idea how Tomo would react. Then I decided to go with the retarded reaction.))

Fortunately for Ayame, Tomo threw her all into the spaz attack - which meant that she would run out of steam fairly quickly. In fact, she was starting to wind down by the time Ayame first called out.

So when he shouted, she had just paused for breath, and froze. "Ayame?" She looked all around, under the clothes, behind the boxes... and then saw the snake.

Blink. Blink. Blink. "Uh..."

She hadn't gotten her second wind yet, and the puzzle pieces hadn't quite clicked. Ayame would have to speak up again for her to maybe get it. Maybe.

[ayameonaplane.livejournal.com]

((Reposted with correct icon...)

"I'm down here," he repeated, carefully coiling himself and looking up at her. If he worked at it, Ayame could hold his head maybe eight or nine inches off the floor. "That's right, the snake. It's a family curse," he explained. "I'm possessed by the spirit of the Snake - the transformation was triggered when you ran into me."

Well, he couldn't put it much plainer than that. Hopefully he wouldn't have to rush to the library and look up memory charms or anything.

[tomowildcat.livejournal.com]

Tomo stared at Ayame again. She knelt down, peering at him sideways as if he was one of those 3-D visual puzzles that would change if you looked at them from another angle. "...you change when somebody runs into you? What kinda curse is that, to keep your family out of contact sports or something?"

[ayameonaplane.livejournal.com]

"Well, technically, it's supposed to be a hug that does it." If Ayame had fingers right now, he'd be doing air-quotes. Unfortunately, as a snake, he was rather short on hands. "A hug from a member of the opposite gender, that is; I don't transform if I'm hugged by a boy. And in practice, one arm on either side of the body counts as a hug."

He paused for a moment, considering the second part of her question. "... you know, I'm not really sure how the family was cursed. It's been that way for generations, but I'm not sure how it started."

[tomowildcat.livejournal.com]

It took Tomo a second to do the math as to how the curse worked. "...wait, does that mean you can't have sex?" The mere thought was horrifying! Not like she had any experience, but the possibility still existed. "Well, not unless you swing towards guys, I guess! But if you don't, that's cruel!"

Hey, she wasn't exactly nice to her friends, but making jokes about Yomi's weight (and getting smacked for it) and mocking Chiyo-chan (and getting smacked for it) was nothing compared to that. "Must've been a really messed-up reason. How long you gonna be stuck like that?"

[ayameonaplane.livejournal.com]

Of course she'd go there. This girl was like a young, female Shigure.

"I think there have been cases of cursed members of the family having children. My cousins and I never discovered exactly how they managed it." By "cousins," of course, he means "Shigure." He suspects that Hatori knew the details and was just refusing to tell them.

"We haven't figured out how to break the curse yet... or did you mean me, personally? I should transform back in a couple minutes."

[tomowildcat.livejournal.com]

((OH MY GOD. I could have sworn I replied to this! Next time I drop a thread like this, poke me on e-mail?))

An apt comparison in some respects, but Shigure probably had more subtlety. (A fire truck had more subtlety at times.) "...uh. Very carefully?" she guessed, seriously considering the logistics there.

"Guess if you don't know how it started, it's gonna be hard figuring out how to break it." Somehow, in the shock, her long-unused common sense was kicking in for a change. "Oh, yeah! A snake! That's why you wanted Slytherin, huh?"