raidraptors | Ryslig

It looks like you got more than just your own. That's those things by the door, right?

[ Her voice is quieter for the quotation, but such softness isn't for the sake of robbery. What happened back there is much more serious — but to ask within the same day is too much.

Another round of shivers. Jeez, Yuzu, are you making up for all the months you didn't have to worry about the cold to experience it all at once? ]

[A nod.]

I figured Sawatari wasn't going to track back by himself.

[He's not so sure about Crow, but he doesn't want his friend to have to. Best to send him a message later.

Her shivering gets a raised eyebrow though, and a faint frown:]

…Are you cold?

[…The hell? How between fire and blankets and– are those his cloths?!]

[ She just pulls the hood down further, sinking more into her mountain of blankets. ]

Shut up. [ So, yes. Yes she is, and yes they are. He's not getting them back any time soon. ] I'm not used to this, okay? Gargoyles run a lot warmer than everything else.

[He can't help an amused snort.]

You are going to make yourself sick like this, you know.

[Then he reaches over to gently take the hands holding her hood and pull it back again. He wants to see her face while talking to her for one, and for another…]

What did Mana turn you into anyway?

[ She doesn't put up any fight, but her muscles are tense when he moves her arms. Yuzu might be willing to let him see, but it doesn't mean she wants to in the first place.

The fur is new. Expected, probably, from the state of her hands, but it blankets her face from top to bottom. White down the center, but pink around her normal eyes and flaring out, like a butterfly mask. It's hard to see where her second pair of eyes are hiding when she has them closed, but her open eyes are the closest they've looked to human in more than a year. White sclerae, blue irises, black pupils.

Once he has the hood off her, her ears pop up to erect, pink and red with long fur enough to nearly mimic her pigtails.

Woof. ]

[Shun really, really can't help the smile creeping onto his face – but he does refrain from laughing out loud at her appearance. She looks very cute after all.]

Werewolf is it, huh? Well, under normal circumstances I doubt you would have had much trouble with tracking us down.

[If that's any consolation.]

[ Her ears fold back, and just that much is enough to make her try pulling the hood back over her head. These darn things betray a hell of a lot more of her mood than her expression does. ]

And you're sure you're going to be okay, right? Sawatari was pretty roughed up when I found him.

[ Surname, this time. Funny; he's definitely overheard her call that guy Shingoto his face.

An unsubtle change of subject, on top of it. ]

[He keeps one hand on her hood and reaches up with the other to pet her ears, to feel the warm fur beneath his fingers even as his expression turns from amused to a lot more sober.]

I'm not about to ignore what they did to us, but I've weathered worse.

[…Possibly. Shun isn't about to draw comparisons between the last–]

How long were we gone anyway?

[–and the loss of his home town. They are two different events, the wounds left definitely not the same and all that he knows for sure is that he's survived. That counts for enough.]

[ Noooooo... this isn't fair... her expression is a sour grumble while he plays with her ears, but it's not like it isn't nice. It's close to like when Shingo goes out of his way to style up her hair, She'll warm up to it after a little bit, but the initial invasion takes some getting used to.

As expected, the fur is very silky. ]

Almost a week.

[Fine to touch, easy to run his claws through – like his fur usually is (he misses it, can't wait for his pelt to grow back already – having it shorn off was much more humiliating as he would have thought before the week before. He lets his fingers glide away from her ears and towards the back of her neck, drawing her closer as he continues to pet her absently, nodding at her reply.]

As I thought then…

[He had figured something close, even though it had seemed so much longer, an eternity, while still in captivity.]

They are going to pay for what they did.

[The ones they didn't already kill… the ones that escaped… surely there were some. Shun has no intentions of letting this slide.]

[ There's not much point to protesting. Besides, Yuzu knows that Shun must have suffered a great deal during that time, the same as Shingo did — and if not the same as Yuya, then something close to it. If this helps him settle back down, if it helps fight some of the tension or the anger that remains, then it's alright.

It's unusual, but it's alright. ]

What did they do?

[He stills at her question, his whole body tensing as he thinks back to the hell that he's spent the past week in – the screaming, the constant scent of blood, the suffering all around him, his own pain – then shakes his head abruptly.]

You don't want to know.

[And Shun really, really doesn't want to talk about it. Not yet.]

[ Her arm snakes out from beneath all those blankets, sleeved to the wrist in a thick sweater, but the hand is bare. More pink fur, padded fingers and palms; she lays her hand on his knee with a light, steadying grip. He should know she could feel the way he went rigid, the change in his voice.

Her expression is soft — but maybe that's just her changed eyes. ]

... I didn't ask because I'd enjoy hearing about it.

[ The blankets shift for the shrug of her shoulders; her gaze slides away. ]

If you don't want to talk about it, I won't force you. But... you don't have to cover it up for my sake.

[He trembles faintly under her hand, lips pressing together. He shakes his head again, voice somewhat soft.]

…I can't. Not yet.

[Not when it's been just hours since he's broken free from the meld of flesh and mind, not when hasn't had much chance to process anything for himself. Not with someone he wants to protect from the worst this world, humanity has to offer.

It is bad enough that he admits this much already.]

[ She doesn't miss the way he changes. Her answer is just as soft in return. ]

Okay.

[ As promised, she lets it go. Yuzu lets go of his knee, shifting position on the couch, leaning forward. It's tempting to reach for the white horns still resting on the table, fire-warm and still carrying the odor of her transmuted blood—she hesitates, even, watching the flames reflect on the polished bone. But it's a sunk cost: she's already hurting from taking Shingo's torment, and Shun can recover from his faster than she would be able to. This time, anyway, she lets it go.

She peels back the layers of her fabric cocoon — quilts and blankets and throws and a duvet for good measure, really, how many of these do they have? — and drapes them across his lap and over his chest. Hey, he didn't ask if he could start playing with her fur, she's not going to ask permission to keep him from getting hypothermia and freezing to death.

(No, Yuzu, that's still just you.) ]

[Shun isn't really surprised by the number of blankets, quilts or pillows they have – he's collected most of them through the course of their stay after all, tends to build his own nest of them when winter calls him to sleep especially with Yuto gone – but her sudden need to wrap him up as well?

That's maybe just a little startling.

He blinks tiredly, then reaches up to drape the quilt on his chest properly around his shoulders before he leans back into the couch, eyes closing. He might never reach Gargoyle warmth, but he's definitely comfortable as he is right now. If he lets his eyes rest for just a second… that won't be so bad, right?

He hadn't even noticed how exhausted he really is until just this moment.]

Ryslig | IC Contact

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WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, SHUN KUROSAKI. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 235.59.665.46 * XYZ-RAPTOR has joined 235.59.665.46 <XYZ-RAPTOR>** Keep it short.