Open Better Homes and Hauntings

[Amelie Craven]

Amelie Craven

Sometimes Amelie felt as if there were just too many things going on for her to be expected to pay attention to all of them... this was one of those times. She wanted to focus, to notice everything, but there was just too much. One moment she'd been happy to see Uncle Zach, standing beside Lani and Moritz and the next there was Papa in the air and Jomi appeared and honestly, she only rejoined the moment when everything had quieted down and Uncle Zach was walking into Finity.

Apparently Moritz had noticed more than she had, her little brother was already yelling at mommy for being mean to Jo... or as she knew him, Jomi. She saw where he was coming from, but she doubted it was that simple,  Mommy was the smartest person in the world after all, so she must have been right. At least that was how part of her felt, the other more instinctual part of herself told her not to question her father's actions either,  as ruthless as his lunge had seemed. That part of her always told her the same thing about her father, he was bigger and stronger and she should follow him and never cross him. It didn't matter though, as the moment passed by, as if it had never happebed and a far more pressing matter spread it's pungent scent through the spacious house, urine.

Had Amelie been in her other form, her face would have been scrunched up at having to endure the sensory onslaught, but in her fox form her sense of smell was far better and that made the stench so much worse. A few more unhappy yips were added before Amelie could take the territorial stench no more and disappeared around the corner along with a flash of light, returning moments later with a white dress she'd left laying in the living room a day before. At least this way, the smell wasn't half as disturbing.

"Uncle Zach!" She sang for the second time, knowing he would not have understood the first, as she came running up to the tall man, excitedly taking the offered sweets and hurriedly stuffing a few of them into her mouth, a wide mouthful of a smile on her face as she tasted the sweetness. It took her a few ticks of chewing before her mouth was free and ready to receive more of the yummy treats but Amelie paused for the briefest of moments to speak. "Uncle Zach, why were you and Papa fighting?" It had been fighting right? She'd heard and fully understood the angry growling her father had made, and she wanted to know why.

[Lani Stranger]

Lani was able to dodge the potato, having been expecting some sort of reaction from Madeira at the mention of Uldr’s name. The child in her arms was squirming, but the woman barely noticed the slap of a toddler’s palm on her arm, trying to pay attention to the commotion before her. The newcomer at the door did not seem quite prepared for meeting Madeira’s entire household at once, and her silly Uldr joke would be quickly forgotten after being attacked by an Hyen and then possessed by a ghost. The other ghost… what was his name? Jomi. Lani had not quite met the incorporeal badger yet, although she recalled his name from Madeira’s letters, so she was paying attention to his words in particular. But before she could interrupt the scene, Madeira’s child quickly found her attention by other means as Lani became suddenly aware of a warmth on her hip. Almost hot, but liquidy and immediately foul to the nose. A fresh morning brew. The half-breed felt something retch in her throat as her nose registered what the liquid was before her mind did.

”Moritz!” She gasped, immediately pulling the child as far from her as possible, and then placing him down as she realized the putrid stream kept going. ”Gods, child. Disgusting.” She pulled the wet spot of her shirt from her side, feeling the retch in her throat again when she heard the last few trickles hit the wooden floor. She supposed that was what the child had been screaming about. ”Well now you have to clean up.” She told the child, dropping her shirt and then offering him a hand. She wasn’t going to pick the child up without asking again, that was for sure. If he took it, she would walk him to the kitchen to grab a rag and wet it to wipe him down. If he refused she would shrug and continue to the kitchen herself.

As soon as she had her hands free near the water bucket, Lani twisted out of her shirt, making sure the wet spot did not touch her any more. She dipped a fresh rag into the clean bucket of water and smoothed it over her skin to make sure she got all of the child’s urine off. Madeira was inviting Zach back into the kitchen by now, and Lani was sure it was not the best idea to be shirtless the whole night. Not that she minded, but there were children. ”Clearly he takes after his father.” Lani let the flush of embarrassment in her neck roll out into some semblance of a witty remark, although it fell mostly flat, into a hazardous insult that she didn’t intent to follow through. She took the chance to depart from the room, only returning Zach’s nod with a wink as she slipped up the stairs, taking two at a time.

Once she slipped in her room, Spider ruffled his feathers, clearly upset she had interrupted his nap. Lani stuck her tongue out at the bird and plunged her hand into her wardrobe, picking a blouse at random to shrug over her shoulders and carelessly tucking it into her pants.

Deciding that being too forwardly social had already taught her a lesson, Lani slinked back down the stairs, scooping up the wet potato from the floor where it had dropped, and turning back towards the kitchen area where everyone had gathered. She flung the potato piece into the trash, and pulled a chair from the table and sitting on it backwards, resting her forearms over the neck of it and leaning on them, watching the interactions before her. The children were enamored with new candy. Zach and Madeira seemed to be discussing… feathers, for Madeira’s malediction. She didn’t know much of this new magic, but from the looks of it, it required the parts of animals. Or perhaps that was just Madeira’s flavor of the magic, she couldn’t be certain. But Lani was focused on the feathers, and how Madeira knew this Zach. She had already been warned off the man, who, as she could not examine, seemed too odd of a human for Lhavit. He was human, sure, but something was different. Lani had always liked things that were different, but at the moment, she had to recover from the embarrassment of being urinated on by a kid Okomo, and didn’t intend to join the conversation. Instead, Lani let her eyes shift around the room, looking for the mysterious Jomi.

”Jomi, are you here?” She said, eyes scanning the immediate area to see if she could spot the fleeting ghost, still curious on who he was.She had gotten a basic description of the deceased, but in her recent journey to reunite with her friend, she wanted to know why exactly the ghost had become one of Madeira's collection.

[Allister]

So much was happening! Glory and shame mingled with manners and failed presumptions. The chaos was pure entertainment for the kelvic. He’d been thwarted by Jomi -jealous bastard. Just because he hadn’t yet found his bondmate and while he understood Allister better than most, the hyena believed that the one time honey badger hated him for the relationship he shared with Madeira. Urine erupted into the beast’s nostrils and the canine maw giggled in the delightfully terrifying cackle common to the scavenger breed.

A firm hand, bony and scented with food and soul mist caught him by the collar. Between the kids, the visitor, the ghost and the woman with golden skin that tasted like mischief Allister could sometimes lose the scent of his beloved goddess. Suddenly, nothing else mattered. Light twinkled and flared around his form and the dog was replaced by a man. As his mass was pressed upward into the tall figure he cut against a dark background, his body wrapped around the matron and lifted her up into his arms. The feelings of friction and pressure that Madeira created against him was a recipe for disaster amidst the crowd. Knowing himself and knowing his mistress, he elected to not be selfish in spite of his blaring desires. Fully nude and fully smiling at the man, the kelvic held his bonded against his chest for a brief moment then he gently set her back upon her feet so she could scurry about and occupy the man with the business upon which he’d been summoned.

In truth, the kelvic would not have harmed Zach beyond the initial tackle. It was the icy-eyed spiritist who decided the fate of those in the assembly -not Allister. Accidents happened from time to time but the unhinged violence that boiled and bubbled from the former slave was less volatile than it used to be. Age brought maturity and the steadiness of a calculating woman added a system which allowed the kelvic to anticipate certain urges thus a proactive schedule to avoid unnecessary crimes.

More chaos was had, however. Amelie was yipping then yelling and Moritz was throwing a holy fit in the arms of the dark-haired woman. Black eyes watched as his offspring revealed bits of their personalities and it brought him a joy he could not explain nor quantify. Rough hands reached for the little vixen but she scurried off to change forms and clothes and that’s when the scream drew the black eyes to even darker pits. Lani was wet, Moritz was too and the stench of urine filled the pale nostrils. Irresistible to the circumstance, Allister busted out laughing until a cough doubled him over. “Good shot, boy!” He struggled.

Upon Lani’s shirtless return with the wet rag, he matched her bottomless expression with a very heavy stare laced with hunger. The black eyes followed her lanky form as it bounded up and away and then he turned and knelt next to his son. With a ruffle through the boy’s gawdy locks, the opposite hand took hold of the rag and began to sop up the mess from the boy’s skin before he turned his attention to the spots on the floor. The house creaked and groaned but Allister didn’t speak structure so he ignored the old building. With a kind face, the new father looked to the vertical slits in the young man’s eyes. “So, me goat son… you know that Mommy wasn’t mean, yes?” With a quick glance to make sure a vase wasn’t being aimed at his skull, Allister glanced around. “Uncle Jo is always cranky and sometimes he needs to be put in his place!” The obvious emphasis was for Allister’s own amusement. He doubted the ghost was even listening anymore.

The hyena paused his father-son talk to watch Lani walk by again. He couldn’t help but wonder how long her legs truly were since they seemed to be endless in her huge strides that belied the actual stature of the woman. Attention back on Moritz, Allister tossed the rag out into the grass and pulled the boy away from the recently wiped up mess to sit astride his knees. “What does lil Mo want to do next?”

[Jomi]

Jomi's eyes shot daggers at the waif like matron. Silently massaging the torn soulmist where Madeira's imbude hand had struck the side of his face. Madeira prattled on, she listed the Manors residents to the man still sprawled out on their front porch as if she were exchanging pleasantries on the street. Pointedly disregarding the initial chaos with the characteristic Craven cool headed control before introducing their new guest to the assembled cast.

"Everyone, this is Zach Grasswind. I've hired him to gather my Malediction supplies. He's completely off limits."

Yes, off limits.

Infinity's thoughts leaked into the ghosts consciousness. The structures voice poked hotly at the ghosts mind with an uncharacteristically harsh insistence. The ghost found himself fighting the sudden urge to snark on the young building and its sudden fascination of the new human. Infinity was still young, and the new life that grew in the wood and stone that surrounded them was curious about the new world it had manifest in. And having that curiosity directed at Madeira's guests would only cause her problems. So naturally Jomi was completely on board. He sent a soundless, positive response through the physic link even as a corner of his thin lips twitched into a wolfish smile.

"I bet he'd like to meet you too. If only he knew you existed." The ghost teased, planting the thought in the manors mind.

The baby in Lani's arm fussed mightily, announcing in no uncertain terms his thoughts on the random violence his mother inflicted on the ghost. Jomi moved to point out Moritz wisdom to his much more irrational mother before the woman scampered away.

In fact everyone did. Amilie yelped and back peddled hard from the door, her father cackling loudly and congratulating the baby goat. Madeira and Zach retreated deeper into the manor and in the distance he could hear the black eyed woman retch.

And the ghost, having lost most of his senses in death, was completely oblivious to the scent that upset the rest of the Kelvics. Or feel the sudden wetness that snaked across the floor.

Jomi, feeling confused and very left out of the excitement, faded away. His body losing colour and features as his soulmist fell apart. The ghosts formless mass drifted into the kitchen, his mass settling on the counter where his hen still pecked away at the stone. fully prepared to wait in his unmaterialized state for the distractions to be over and for the spiritist to begin making his petching soulmist already.

”Jomi, are you here?”

Unsettling, pitch black eyes roamed over the room from Lani's seat at the corner of the table. The ghost had no opinions of the woman. She was a friend of Madeira's, he knew, and she came from far away. Her association to Madeira had necessitated that he keep his distance from her. As she was just another set of eyes for the ambitious spiritist to use against him.

But as long as he had to wait for his soulmist...

The ghosts soulmist wound together atop the stone counter and contracted around his soulcore with little more than a thought. Twisting and fusing with each other as they began to build up Jomi's materialized body with the help of the glowing red stone imbedded in his palm. His face and clothes were carefully carved from the formless mass, gaining colour and texture to add to the ghosts new living likeness as he sat cross legged on the counter facing the lanky woman.

Rosie chirped angrily as the new materialized volume pushed her across the slick surface. The ghost twisted around to rescue the bird, plucking her off the stone and placing her on his lap. Jomi pulled at his leathers, smoothing out the tough material to better accommodate the bird. His face pulled down into a unconscious scowl.

"...It recently occurred to me that these clothes are not actually clothes, they're part of my body, like a second skin. Does that mean I'm always naked? What happens if I take them off?"

Jomi looked up to the woman across from him. A true exotic beauty, guided skin and a lovely heart shaped face famed by a glossy curtain of the darkest black. The legs that stretched over the sides of the chair seemed to go on forever, the thin ropy muscles pulled taunt under the fabrics. Even Jomi, a being devoid of the needs of the flesh, found his excitement spike when she turned her eyes and attentions to him. There was only one thing that bothered him..

"Your eyes are petching weird."

”I don’t want to intrude on your uh, family mealtime...”

Infinity discontent rattled around the ghosts skull at Zach's sudden announcement. Upset by the upcoming loss of this new human.

”It’s good to meet you all.”

"And it's good to meet you too, Mr.Grasswind!"

The ghost drew up the latent power in his soulcore, spreading it out and sending it into the very ends of his etherial shroud. Jomi rolled out his soulmist and separated the ends into four individual ribbons of soulmist. He then used the new transparent appendages to snag a richly upholstered wooden armchair for the sitting area at all four ends and send the lip of the seat careening hard into the back of the blonde mans knees.

"Stay. Have a bite to eat, we have plenty."

Jomi forced on his most charming smile, determined to keep the manors interest in the man alive. And deep within his mind, Jomi could feel Infinity's bubbling happiness.

[Madeira Dusk]

Zach followed her inside, edging in almost sideways in an effort to keep a wary eye on the tall naked man that loomed in the doorway. Madeira could feel the Architectrix watching Zach with curious interest, its awareness centring almost exclusively around the stranger even as Moritz caused a fuss by the front door.

The toddler was in a huff, chubby cheeks puffed out in a frustration that could have been from being manhandled or just because his toddler mind was overwhelmed with the flurry of activity. As Lani disappeared to change and Allister knelt to clean off the boy, his pout reached critical levels, and his piping voiced was raised accusingly at his mother.

"Mommy mean, hip Jo. Jo juss help-nen!"

Jomi gave her a smug look before fading away, but at least Allister backed her up. She quickly saved the slightly smoking hash from the hot kitchen stove before addressing her son.

"Watch your tone with me, young man. Your father's right, Jomi needed to be put in his place.", Madeira explained patiently to the huffy naked child. "He stopped your father from attacking, but only because he wanted him to do so elsewhere. We don't purposefully kill guests in this house."

Zach was untying his leather pouch, offering sweets to Moritz and the newly human Amelie, and offering Madeira a set of remarkable tail feathers.

"Oh, yes! Thank you, Zach, they’re gorgeous!" The Spiritist's eyes sparkled with delight as she gingery took the fragile feathers from the hunter's hands. To the naked eye the feathers were white, but tapered off to a strange glassy translucence towards the tips. Fanning the feathers between her fingers she held them up to the thin light of encroaching dawn that fell through the kitchen window and watched them nearly disappear. They were harvested from the aptly named Ghost Hawk, native only to the peaks of Kalea, and she was excited to use them in her malediction.

As she studied the remarkable feathers Zach made apologetic noises, insisting he didn't want to intrude on their family time. Before she could insist he stay Jomi did so for her, pushing the poor hunter into a seat at the scrubbed table with an uncharacteristic oily smile.

"Yes, please, stay", she smiled brightly. "At least have a bite to eat before you go. I'll grab your payment after the meal."

Scrapping the hash out of the pan and into a porcelain serving bowl, she dug around in the vegetable cupboard for a moment.

"Amelie, do you want to help your mom?" she beckoned her daughter over and set a bowl of dark leafy lettuce and cucumber on the floor in front of her. "Rip that up nice and small for your brother." From almost the moment he was weaned Moritz showed disgust for all meat and dairy foods, and she wasn't sure if the boy could tell that the hash was full of butter.

While the empty frying pan was still hot Madeira threw in a few fat sausages, causing the pan to snarl and spit hot oil at her. Dodging the projectiles she moved along the curving counter to the bread bin and poked at the loaf inside. Deciding it wasn't too stale she slapped the bread and a dish of butter out on the kitchen table in front of Lani.

"Slice that for me?" she asked without asking, giving the half breed no chance to refuse as she whirled away, a dervish in pink silk.

"Your turn, Jomi, house." With a clean fork she speared a gooey bit of hash and popped it into her mouth, and proceeded to make sucking sounds as the steaming hot and strangely spicy mess burned the top of her mouth. Taking a swig from the jar of preserved blood in the pantry helped cool things off considerably, though.

Swallowing noisily, she cracked her knuckles and laid her hands deliberately on the wall of the kitchen. The Arch perked up instantly as Madeira siphoned off her dijed and pressed it to the sentient building, which pulled it eagerly from the point of contact. While inside her body a very different magical process of soulmist production was taking place. Once both were finished she lifted her hands from the walls, and in her mind she heard the happy 'thank you’ of a satisfied house.

And the building seemed to be in a great hurry to exercise this sudden influx of dijed, for from the point were her hands touched the wall the paint began to change. The whitewash brightened with colour and bloomed out in fractal patterns that inched along the wall, moving to curve entirely around the hexagonal space. Madeira did not miss how the building seemed very focused on the reaction of new person in their midst as it did.

Are you trying to impress Zach?, she questioned silently as she stood on her toes to grab a bowl for Jomi from a top shelf. If it started to develop a crush on her new hunter she couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen.

No!, it responded huffily, and immediately zoned her out, only confusing her more.

Putting that quandary aside for now, she held Jomi's bowl in her hands and gave a great, hacking cough. An enormous amount of pearly soulmist bubbled wetly from her lips and poured inside. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand she placed the bowl on the table in front of her ghost.

Finally, she was ready to serve. She piled the greasy sausages (charred on the outside yet still somehow undercooked) on a plate on the table, along with the bowl of smoking hash. A pitcher of water, the bread from Lani, the vegtables for Moritz, soulmist for Jomi, plates and silverware completed the spread. Madeira stood over it and felt a surge of confidence. Look at her, providing for her family, being such a homemaker! Ha! This wasn't so hard!

"Sit down and eat up." she smiled for the assembled mish mash of family, friends, bonded and servants. And there was something in the flash of her white teeth that made it clear if they didn't enjoy her first ever attempt at cooking it wouldn't end well.

[Zach Grasswind]

Zach was relieved that a significant portion of the chaos had been left at the door of the house. Being a Drykas, the hunter was no stranger to a noisy and energetic family, but he had definitely not been expecting to find one here. Looking past the odd parts that he did not yet understand - the dark eyes of Lani and… Jomi - he could probably find comfort in the chaos if he let himself.

He smiled down at Amelie, chuckling a little as she stuffed as many sweets as she could into her mouth at once. Her question threw him a little, for honestly he had no idea of the answer. Zach’s best guess was that their father’s animal form was some sort of territorial canine and the hunter had definitely encroached on his territory. ”I think I took him by surprise.” As she went to rummage more sweets from the bag, he raised an eyebrow. ”I’m not sure you should eat the whole bag before breakfast little fox.”

Zach flicked his gaze up as movement caught his attention, eyes falling on the figure of Lani exiting the room, throwing a nod in his direction. Again, her eyes gave him pause as it was hard to tell if she was actually looking right at him. His attention then returned to Madeira and the feathers, a small smile working its way over his mouth in relief as the Spiritist exclaimed over them. ”I’m glad they are what you were looking for!”

Caught up with Amelie and Madeira, he hadn’t notice the return of Lani until her voice sounded somewhere behind where he was standing, enquiring after Jomi. Zach turned his head just in time to see the ghost appear cross legged on the counter and retrieve a chicken from next to him. As Jomi wondered aloud about his clothing, Zach couldn’t help but wonder how he was able to physically pick up the bird. Having never met a ghost before, he assumed that they were unable to touch anything. Then again, it was becoming very apparent to the Drykas that he didn’t know a lot of things.

Zach’s stammered excuse appeared to have gone unnoticed, until he was assaulted by one of the cushy dining chairs. His knees gave way involuntarily for the second time that morning and he found himself seated at the large table before he could even make a noise of surprise. The ghosts smile unnerved him almost as much as Lani’s eyes did and rather than look at either of them he fixed his attention on Madeira as she delegated tasks to various members of the household.

A small frown wound over his brow as the blonde woman announced it was time for Jomi and…the house?... to eat. Why would a house need feeding? Zach watched curiously as she pressed her hands to the wall, and while he had no idea what was actually happening, he understood enough of Madeira to know that she was likely doing some sort of magic. Within moments an explosion of colour and pattern erupted from where she was touching the wall, continuing even after she removed her hands. The Drykas stared at the patterns with wide eyes utterly confused and captivated at the same time.

He flicked his gaze to Lani, seated near him at the table to gauge her reaction. The dark eyes of the woman didn’t seem quite so strange anymore compared to a house that could apparently re-paint itself. The walls continued to shift with colour and pattern, and he couldn’t help but stare once more. Zach barely noticed the food being placed on the table, or the others drawing up to eat. It was only at Madeira’s announcement that he was able to tear his eyes away again and fixate on her. ”What uh…” He cleared his throat, reaching for the pitcher of water. ”What did you do to the wall?” He looked at Lani again. "Does that usually happen?"

[Moritz Craven]

Moritz was a child, this he knew. Moritz was growing, this he knew. Moritz had much to learn, and see, and do. This he knew.

But right. Wrong. Good. Bad. True. Not true.... These we things he knew, he felt, like how he felt how to walk as an Okomo or breath as a person. And unlike trying to climb in his human form, which seemed to be missing the proper tools and things for such movement.

But right, wrong, these were things he felt and did not have to be told. And if someone broke that knowledge, of truth, then he was not one to just go along. To listen. To agree. To think alike.

Even if it was his family who did so. If they did not know, then surely it was his duty to correct their lacking knowledge.

He was a child, but he was not but just a child. He was Moritz, he knew to himself, he was a kelvic, he was a person, he was an Okomo, he was himself and none other could say such a combination of being such as he was.

At the rude woman's comment on his leaking, Moritz imply replied with a clear "Nint list-nen" to explain it. He had after all tried to warn he, and she had not listened. It was not his fault for her hoisting and then ignoring him and the ramifications that came from that.

Grudgingly he took the offered hand, walking along with the odd woman who seemed to be learning slowly the proper way to handle him. In so much as not handling him, at least without asking.

He simply stood as the woman wet a rag and wiped him with his eyes wandering about, something much easier to manage in his current human form as he was nude and not covered in such hair as in his Okomo form.

Once done with him the woman turned to herself, attempting to clean her body coverings, clothes, with less success it seemed to him than she had with him.

He showed no signs of embarrassment or chastisement, and in truth felt none. It had not after all been his fault, and only silly people were so preoccupied with clothes and things. Rather he had a somewhat bland and flat face as he investigated things about him with a somewhat detached air. Like the food things which his sister took which he resolutely ignored.

He simply gave his father a bored look when he commented on his accident, in line with someone making a rude comment congratulating someone for something that had befallen someone which they had not been trying to do. Which, Moritz supposed, was what had happened. He sometimes wondered of the two of them who was older, him only seasons old or his father who acted it. He was his father but... But well, he seemed so foolish so often when he spoke.

For a moment his father turned his attention from his mother and to him, his son, but soon passed onward again to other things. Cleaning the floor. Back to his mother. Always back to his mother. Like... Like... Like a log rolling down a hill. It might be pushed up a bit with some effort, but the moment it was let go... Down it went.

Goat. Moritz frowned, lowering his head a bit in annoyance at the word. Not a goat.

Moritz did his best to grudgingly ignore his father, who had once more called him a goat. Not goat. Besides, all he said was in his mothers defense, without any reasoning behind the words. Least not good reasoning. He had saw what he saw, and would not be so easily changed in his understanding.

At his fathers question Moritz simply replied "Not goat." He was unsure if this was heard though, because soon after his mother seemed angry at him.

She seemed sure of herself, but no more seemed willing or able to explain why this was the truth than anyone else. They all seemed to love, Moritz found, to tell him things without properly explaining. Water is dry. Snow is hot. And he was to just listen and agree and nod like his sister so often did. Not he.

At her comment of his watching how he spoke and such Moritz head lowered a bit more, eyes peaking up. If he had been an Okomo then it would have been a much clearer challenge, shuffling his feet before preparing to charge.

His response was simple but straightforward.

"Why"

If he was to watch his tone, if his father had the right of things in defending his mothers actions he saw as wrong, then why? Why was he wrong, why should he watch his tone- a sound? Could one see sounds? Watch it do what?

Not a goat.

She gave a bit of an answer, at Jomi's intention but... But how could she know his intention? And did it matter? If his intention was good, if his goal was good, even if self interested, did it matter?

"Why matt-her, iffn aught do for right, if do is right?"

Yes, very sound and logical argument, Moritz thought to himself. If his goal was good, even if in his own interest, if it was to help, did it matter why he did it if he did that good thing?

He could not quite at that moment think of a good example of that, but he felt it was a sound argument and he had conveyed it well.

"Which more... Portant. Do good, or do good cus wann do good?"

Not a goat. "Not a goat..." he said once more under his breath, his head canted at such an angle that if he had been a Okomo then another Okomo would have gotten clear of his path.

Rather than sitting at the table Moritz kept on the floor, taking a few steps back and away. And then in a flash he shifted, and was his full Okomo-ness.

His head still low, the cant of his ready to charge perhaps more clear now, he looked up at those at the table. Now he could do so properly, looking with his face down while his eyes stayed up and level. That was something his human face could not manage, his eyes not moving in the right way, even if he had his Okomo eyes in both forms.

Assuming no one immediately stopped him or tried to kick him out Moritz would then take a few steps forward and bend down his head to eat the plant matter that had been laid out for him, while keeping his eyes up and looking around him.