Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no.
A lot of things were happening at once and Zora couldn’t help but feel a terror that was threatening at all sides. Of course, it had started with an accident, falling in a way that for most people would have lead to a broken arm or something. And the way that their arm had shifted - observers would have thought surely there was something to ‘crack’ as they fell.
But Z had always been very wary of having these accidents in public- people were starting to try to get a closer look. And that anxiousness was building up the already heightened cosmic tension that they dealt with on an everyday basis. They had already flashed white eyes towards a few people due to the stress. Tension that only seemed to intensify with the nerves that they had ... they tried to wave it off getting up - but the rip, the sight of their arm being something quite other than the injury that people expected had set off alarm.
What is..that? Why are you.. like that? What is happening?
Questions coming from all sides only sharpened the cracks and twists that they were starting to display in reaction, not to mention them no longer having the brown eyes that helped them maintain a low-key presence. A white distant gaze with another white eye on their forehead was staring back at those trying to make sense of them and yelling questions that they could not, would not respond to.
The moment some ‘authority’ tried to get close, they took off running - already at a surprising pace even with some onlookers joining in the chase. This had happened before, they still had the memories from college and to have this replay... only had them screaming internally as they moved. And a chase was starting to build because with the tension - more bursts of cosmic energy was starting to show. Their body started to elongate, yet more arms emerging, their skin shifting to highlight the lavender and other lightly colored patterns on that marked their true nature. The faster they moved, the faster Zora started to release more energy making their presence harder and harder to ignore. It was getting to be too vast to be held and their body was breaking all constraints as they tried to escape.
They moved in such fashion that their legs had become more energy and tendrils - having them practically floating through the streets - through people, past people - shocking anyone who had been brushed against. The cries get louder, and louder more forces are coming for them. A sizeable being of cosmic energy was going to be hard to capture no matter how many people bore witness to it.
But that was of no comfort to Zora right now, they had to get away.. desperately and they dove into the nearest alley dipping and diving through increasingly darker streets finally managing to get some distance from those who had been pursuing them. They didn’t dare stop until they didn’t hear voices. And only when they managed to find a decrepit, abandoned place did they bother to hide. Inside the decaying place, Zora finally managed to catch their breath now fully in their ethereal, alien, and somewhat eldritch form. They collapse to the ground somewhat shaking from the fear, the terror of it all - memories, nightmares of bad experiences being re-enacted on a larger scale. It was truly horrifying - but also..inevitable.
It was in this moment that they felt at least, comfortable in this form - a form that had been calling out, yelling out beneath their ‘disguise’ for some time now, only released here and there. As they made sense of it all, they had to recognize - this incident.. had been long in the making.
Footsteps, movements on the floorboards make it clear that Zora perhaps was not alone in this decaying place. They didn’t dare try to move instead - they direct their head towards whatever was tentatively getting closer to them.
“I’..I’m sorry to intrude.“ That’s the words they manage to speak - seeing a figure as peculiar as their own state and resembling a large bat more than anything else. Interesting. Even in a state of exhaustion and wariness, they can’t help their curiosity at the figure who seems to be coming their way.