middaeg | . summer's play

[A soft blue glow rests on Dimitri's lips, though he doesn't think it stands out much among the much more brilliantly colored people milling around him. Several cometflies still drift through the air, listless despite their narrow lifespan.

Dimitri finds himself watching them more closely than the skies for the moment-

One had flown into his mouth when his gaze was turned upwards, and he'd nearly choked on the thing. Did it live through being spit out? He has no idea... but he can hope for the little guy, and try not to repeat the same mistake.

Looking around him rather than up means he spots Felix easily, and despite a sudden lurch in his stomach, he approaches directly.]

Good evening, Felix.

Are you enjoying the meteor shower?

Edited 2020-04-03 01:47 (UTC)

[ There's a spot out atop the low garden wall, tucked behind the shed near the street, where Felix likes to go to spend a few quiet hours when he's not utterly wrapped up in his drills. Usually, he can go unnoticed out here, but being close to the garden means being close to a convergence of the tiny, glowing insects crawling up out of the greenery—which means there's not just one, but a dozen little points of light dusting his shoulders, his hair, even stuck to the tip of one pointed ear where they've lit upon him for fleeting seconds.

He'd probably be more irritated about that if most of them weren't blue and gold. However many of them have had an effect, he's... oddly placid about it, ears swiveling toward Dimitri as he turns his head. Whatever strange mood they've put into him is just enough of a buffer that maybe a few old, stray feelings of warmth aren't immediately eclipsed by disgust at the sight of him.

Felix stares at him for a moment, eyes inevitably drawn to the blue glow smack in the middle of his face. He snorts—and then actually chuckles. ]

It's certainly a change of pace from the cakes they were slinging at me when I got here. [ He's still grinning, bemused. ] Don't tell me you ate one of those. How do you know they're not toxic?

[There's a story to that comment, to be sure. Dimitri wonders if he'll find Felix in such good spirits ever again - and if he'll get the chance to ask about it. For now, he tucks that silly little image away with a smile.

Somehow, a sense of ease has settled between them - beautiful, gentle lights and Felix's sharp smile.]

I did not eat one. [Adamant, almost childishly defiant.] As I was watching the sky, one simply...

Flew into my mouth. [Goddess that doesn't sound any better. He adds quickly,] I spit it out, of course.

[Embarrassed as he may be, Dimitri cannot help but smile. Felix's levity must be contagious.] You're quite illuminated yourself. [Dimitri steps closer, within arms reach, a few cometflies drifting between them swaying aside.

Across his shoulders, woven in his hair... Dimitri follows the faded glow to the tips of Felix's ears.

And stares.]

At least none of them are in my mouth. I have the sense not to walk around here gaping like a fool.

[ But it's barely more than a gentle chiding, stripped of Felix's usual venom where Dimitri is concerned. He steps closer, and Felix allows it, ears quivering with a subtle, quiet uncertainty, like a creature still deciding whether to flee. He'd never even let him get this close under normal circumstances—too clumsy, a brute, a beast—but maybe, just this once, he'll tolerate it.

Besides, he finds spending time alone suits him less and less lately, and right now, with the night's strange magic bleeding into him, more than ever.

He follows Dimitri's gaze upward, wondering what's caught the Boar's attention this time—and when he realizes, he sighs. Of course it's the damn ears. He can't fathom why people are so obsessed with them, but especially Dimitri. ]

Fine. You may touch them. [ And he holds up a cautionary finger, before the Boar gets any ideas. ] Once.

[Never once had Dimitri taken to playing with the hounds kept in the palace. They were tucked away with the other animals, cared for by someone who's face he couldn't even remember. When hunting, he remembers their ears peaked. Alert. Focused.

Which is what he expects to see adorning Felix, as well.

So each little deviation - a shake, a quiver, a twist - is captivating. As if he's seeing something he shouldn't, as if he's gaining an illicit opportunity to know Felix better than he ought to.

Like he used to.] I-

[To decline would be polite, but there's an impulsiveness in him that Dimitri can't quell.] Once.

[Not immediately. First, he pulls off his gauntlets, one yanked off and tucked under his arm and then the next. His hands are clammy with sweat, so he tries to wipe them off on his pant leg just once - surreptitiously (but not really) - before reaching slowly for Felix's ears.

Suddenly he's forgotten everything about how to pet a dog.

His thumb brushes the soft, pink skin while his fingers wrap around to massage the mussed hair behind. The first touch is cautious, but he soon grows bolder. Fingers massage where ear meets scalp, and his thumbs flick over the tips.

He can feel each twitch like this-

All too quickly, he remembers himself, and pulls his hands away.

Once.] They're... soft. [It'd probably be better if he hadn't commented at all.]

Edited (oops icon also sorry this is adjacently erotic) 2020-04-14 01:11 (UTC)

[ In the back of his mind, Felix thinks that this is probably a mistake, and he'll regret it later when he's thinking straight again. Right now, he can't bring himself to mind much.

He tries to remind himself regularly that he is not an animal—that he's still perfectly human, give or take a few odd features he's acquired over the last few months, and that he's not bound by any lesser instincts that might come with his new form.

Operative word: tries. There are certain reactions he can no longer control, much as he hates to admit it, and one of them is his response to the feeling of fingers scratching at just the right spot behind his ears—in the little dip between the soft skin of his earlobe and his scalp, something that Sylvain and only Sylvain has figured out. Until now.

Felix grunts softly, and his eyes slip shut, head tilting to one side as Dimitri manages to find that spot. It's hard to describe the feeling—kind of like a good, solid stretch that works loose a knotted muscle, would be his closest comparison. It's good. Pleasant, even. He could easily get lost in it.

His tail, damn traitor piece of fuzz that it is, swishes idly back and forth, telling as much for the Boar to see.

...He should be grateful that Dimitri stops.

He shouldn't be unhappy when Dimitri stops.

But there's a lingering sense of disappointment even as his eyes snap open and he jerks back to awareness, and Felix shoves that back down before he can think about it too hard. His tail stills, the hairs standing on and, and Felix clears his throat, taking a cautious step back and out of Dimitri's space. ]

...They're just new, that's all. [ He's surprised the observation doesn't annoy him more. He averts his eyes and ghosts a hand over the back of his neck, the peach fuzz that's started growing down his collar and spine. Still changing. Always changing. ] I'm told they'll grow coarser when the fur comes in properly.

[There will be no forgetting what he'd done to make Felix keen his head so pliantly, nor the almost serene look on his face. Dimitri commits it to muscle memory with the focus he dedicates to wielding his lance. Without the risk of triggering his crest by simply concentrating, he too found the exchange relaxing.

Not so subtly, he leans to the side when Felix withdraws to appraise the state of his tail.

Another easy tell for Felix's emotions. Perhaps it's karmic that after so many years of putting on an obtuse face, his old friend is relegated to being as transparent as he was when they were children.

Or perhaps Dimitri's simply indulging too much in nostalgia.

He looks down at his fingers, and the thin layer of hair beginning to grow in on their backs. It's a strange sensation in how natural it feels - as if he's simply growing into himself.

With a restrained sigh, he sets to putting his gauntlets back on. Once meant once, coming from Felix - he's not going to overstep what little grace he'd been given.

There are so many questions Dimitri could ask - about the process of growing a tail, or how Felix's hearing has changed, or if he'll soon have paws instead of hands.

He keeps them to himself, out of self-indulgent desire to keep this moment personal.] You're still changing...

But it doesn't seem like you've changed too much. [In personality, he means.]

[ Felix's eyes flicker down to the unsubtle fur decorating the backs of Dimitri's hands, a more animal scent that mingles with the mix of sweat and iron that reeks of same old Dimitri. He's changing, though to what, Felix couldn't say yet. Maybe another Turnskin. Maybe a Puca. Hell if he knows, and it's too early to tell.

If he focuses, he can still the wagging of his errant tail and get the thing to return to its status as an unfortunate extra piece of dead weight, but it's hard. The longer he has it, the more he gets used to it, the more he forgets to keep it under control.

Felix laughs wryly, but, well, it's a laugh. It has to count for something. ]

As far as you're concerned, I'm five years a stranger. Surely you don't believe that?

[ Surely he doesn't believe that Felix hasn't changed at all from the boy he knows? Felix knows that in five years, he feels as though he's aged fifteen. He's weary of war, though he doesn't know what else he'd do without it.

Surely, Felix thinks, eyes falling to the ground and expression tightening, he's not the same person he was five years ago. ]

A lot changes in that kind of time, you know.

[Felix laughs, but the moment he stops Dimitri can't recall anything beyond how sharp it sounded. His shoulders bristle, and he wonders... if he had a tail, would it be curved between his legs.

He certainly feels like a shamed animal.

Not much of a change there, and Dimitri weathers it politely, as he always has.

In five years, Felix has not come to regard him with any more warmth. Dimitri doesn't expect him to, he has no hopes to dash-

Still, it feels like he's lost something anew.]

I am sure, yes.

[But Felix is still a warrior. He is still a firm voice of independence and not a shadow trailing after Dimitri's every step.]

What differences should I know of, aside from- [A gentle gesture to Felix's ears.

An attempt to keep things light, and to stop himself from guessing at the answers and souring Felix's mood.

All delivered with an empty smile.]

[ And there goes... whatever the hell this was, Felix doesn't know, but the shift in the mood and the falseness of the smile are palpable. This wasn't unusual for them, back in the day. They'd fall into some kind of banter without thinking, as though the time and bad memories between them were forgotten, until the moment Felix remembered who he was talking to and turned away in disgust.

Somehow, this feels like the reverse. His ears lower just slightly, and the smile falls away from his face, eyes flickering somewhere to the left of Dimitri rather than look at him. The difference between them is that Felix isn't so skilled at politely smiling away the tension. ]

I'm a wolf once a month. [ Felix steps away, peeling the glove from one hand with a shrug, as much an excuse to get space as anything. There are his claws, the darkened callouses starting to form on his palms, the fur on the backs of his hands. He curls his fingers, holds them up to see. ] All other times, I'm what you see. Stronger. Faster. I hear and smell differently. That's it.

I can't say it'll be the same for you. It's... [ Funny, how all the evidence of so many things is gone now. His changes, and the moment of warmth between them. ] too soon to tell.

[Dimitri has never chased Felix's eyes when they dart away - and in relinquishing a shared gaze, he loses track of the man's emotions. Anything other than anger is too subtle to discern, and the bite in Felix's tone helps to simply accept agitation as a blanket understanding.

Now, though, Dimitri sees Felix's ears wilt and begins to wonder if Felix isn't... disappointed, somehow.

In him, most likely. Though, with a faint blue glow still settled across him, Dimitri thinks optimistically, just for a moment, that Felix had wanted this conversation to remain genuinely pleasant.

If only he knew how to fix it.

Leaning forward, Dimitri silently appraises Felix's bared hand. His is beginning to look similar, and he tries to imagine himself with such different anatomy. From their initial duel, he knows Felix's prowess with a blade hasn't slipped, but it looks like it might be more difficult to hold a sword.

He'll find out in time, he supposes.] You say... you're a wolf?

Indistinguishable from the animal itself? [Dimitri hangs on this detail, because it's easier than the uncertainty of his own future.]

[ There's something about the phrasing Felix distinctly doesn't like—indistinguishable from the animal itself, as though he becomes merely a beast, and nothing more—and it makes him bristle, literally, tugging his hand back out of Dimitri's reach and against his chest. ]

I don't forget myself entirely, if that's what you're implying. I still know how to speak and walk on my hind legs.

[ Maybe Dimitri's accidentally prodded a sore spot here—a piece of Felix's identity that he's struggled with since he got here, since the first time he changed shape beneath the full moon. He has his senses—most of the time. Not always. He's slipped, here and there, and the knowledge that he hasn't lost himself yet but he might weighs heavy in the back of his mind at all times.

Dimitri doesn't know that, of course. He has no way of knowing that, he's barely been here, and Felix would not tell him anyway.

After a moment, he exhales, his breath gusting heavily from his lips. How to put it so Dimitri understands, without having to delve into the one topic Felix would rather not speak of? ]

You met Mhairi, right? Like her.

[Felix recoils as if stung, and Dimitri takes half a step back - as if somehow his curious grip had crushed bone. He turns his hand over in front of himself, the thickening hair on his knuckles a sweaty matted mess he'd prefer to hide.

It was brave of Felix to share more than necessary. And even though there's clearly so much he's not telling him, Dimitri refuses to let himself lose sight of the small trust he'd been given.

Even if he's all but destroyed that fragile thing, now.] I see.

I was only asking about your appearance... You're one of the most disciplined people I know. I would never assume you'd lose your senses. [Reassurances he's sure won't make Felix feel like opening up any more, but even an unseen effect is worth his breath.]

Is it common for monsters to forget themselves?

[ Felix wishes he could take any comfort in idealistic platitudes. Maybe, for a fleeting second, the hackles on the back of his neck settle, and maybe he casts a wary and uncertain glance in Dimitri's direction—but Dimitri doesn't know, hasn't been here long enough to experience the influence of the Sisters in full, and Felix can hardly settle on that kind of comfort for long. ]

Not... so common, as long as they have a Bond.

[ And yet Felix still lost himself briefly, even with one, but he doesn't say that. ]

...And so long as they don't try to fight the change, but that isn't a problem the locals are accustomed to dealing with. Monsters here were born monsters. They know nothing else. For us, it's different.

[ He twists his fingers around his own wrist, frowning. Felix knows he's disciplined—normally. And yet he couldn't handle a single night without locking himself in the basement. Dimitri... ]

Be wary. If you thought it was difficult to keep your head before, you've no idea how hard the twin moons will hit you when they peak.

. summer's play

. felix

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good meme felix

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