I've been— [ Trying not to die, coping with odd body changes, dealing with This Place. All perfectly valid points. He opts for something more generic, for now, since he'd rather not get into the rest. ] —busy. You didn't die, so I didn't need to come dig your corpse out of the subway tunnels and kick your ass.
[ That doesn't mean he's worried any less, though his relief at this conversation happening—including her teasing barb—is palpable. ] I take it you're more or less in one piece?
I get the impression they're good at that, despite the whole not being familiar with Earth thing. [ They're learning, anyway, so that's gotta be good for something. ] Glad you made it out in one piece.
[ Physically, anyway. They're overdue for a talk about other things, but first: he can't evade the question being lobbed at him, even if he wants to redirect. Lortel's been more upfront with him than he imagines she wanted to. It's only fair to be less of a cagey asshole about his own shit.
Besides, it's not like he'll be able to hide it much longer, with how things have progressed. ] You know how you and Kalmiya have had some...bodily changes?
[ Arthur pauses, letting the weight of that question sink in. ]
Apparently that's not wholly exclusive to Offerings. Pretty unnerving to feel like my spine is fusing with circuitry.
They'd better be, after how long I took care of them. [ there's a gentle teasing to it that does not so much suggest as neon sign post her affection and love for the two.
the redirect sobers her up immediately. ]
Yes. I remember when my Trickster traits became much more pronounced. I was ... [ a beat ] —really freaked out, [ is what she lands on, using slang she's picked up from her earth-born friends. ] So I can only imagine how you're feeling. I didn't even know Tokens could transform. Are you alright?
[ it's a multi-layered question. physically? mentally? ]
[ There's a faint amusement plucking the strands of their tether, as she describes how she'd felt about her transformations. It isn't as though he thinks Lortel incapable of being casual, it's—warming, in a way, to hear her use more colloquial language, the kind any teenager would spout off.
The warmth from that kindles further as she asks after his current state. ]
I think it's less of a dramatic change than either you or Kalmiya have experienced, so it might not be a transformation in that sense. [ Technically it is, but that's splitting hairs. What really matters is whether he counts himself as being alright. ]
Mm, yes and no. I'll be fine, once I get used to it. The fact it's happening at all without my say so, though, is...concerning. [ He grimaces as he rolls his shoulders, feeling the way his shirt catches on the ridges slowly forming along his spine. ]
That it's less dramatic doesn't mean you aren't being transformed. [ rather mildly. she's not trying to contradict him. far from it; she doesn't like that he seems given to invalidating his own experience simply because theirs have been comparatively more extreme.
she'd had such strong feelings about her claws and fur. those feelings haven't even really gone away; they're just a dull roar now, having tumbled to the bottom of the list of things she's truly worried about. in a city full of those changed, she'd hardly unusual, and wasting her time on feeling hideous and unlovable had served no one, and her least of all. ]
I wish I could offer you any advice, but it never truly stopped bothering me before I left. Honestly, it was getting worse. Now I'm this, instead, and it's just a different flavor of the same awful gruel.
Perhaps all I can offer is to tell you not to deal with it alone. It was my roommates' acceptance that ... at least made the psychological component of it easier to bear, at least, for me.
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Date: 2026-02-07 06:08 am (UTC)[ That doesn't mean he's worried any less, though his relief at this conversation happening—including her teasing barb—is palpable. ] I take it you're more or less in one piece?
no subject
Date: 2026-02-08 12:43 am (UTC)More or less. I was hurt in the fight, but Till and Ivan took very good care of me. It's all healed up, now.
So what about you? "Busy" won't work twice.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-10 06:27 am (UTC)[ Physically, anyway. They're overdue for a talk about other things, but first: he can't evade the question being lobbed at him, even if he wants to redirect. Lortel's been more upfront with him than he imagines she wanted to. It's only fair to be less of a cagey asshole about his own shit.
Besides, it's not like he'll be able to hide it much longer, with how things have progressed. ] You know how you and Kalmiya have had some...bodily changes?
[ Arthur pauses, letting the weight of that question sink in. ]
Apparently that's not wholly exclusive to Offerings. Pretty unnerving to feel like my spine is fusing with circuitry.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-13 05:05 am (UTC)the redirect sobers her up immediately. ]
Yes. I remember when my Trickster traits became much more pronounced. I was ... [ a beat ] —really freaked out, [ is what she lands on, using slang she's picked up from her earth-born friends. ] So I can only imagine how you're feeling. I didn't even know Tokens could transform. Are you alright?
[ it's a multi-layered question. physically? mentally? ]
no subject
Date: 2026-02-13 05:38 am (UTC)The warmth from that kindles further as she asks after his current state. ]
I think it's less of a dramatic change than either you or Kalmiya have experienced, so it might not be a transformation in that sense. [ Technically it is, but that's splitting hairs. What really matters is whether he counts himself as being alright. ]
Mm, yes and no. I'll be fine, once I get used to it. The fact it's happening at all without my say so, though, is...concerning. [ He grimaces as he rolls his shoulders, feeling the way his shirt catches on the ridges slowly forming along his spine. ]
no subject
Date: 2026-02-18 02:55 am (UTC)she'd had such strong feelings about her claws and fur. those feelings haven't even really gone away; they're just a dull roar now, having tumbled to the bottom of the list of things she's truly worried about. in a city full of those changed, she'd hardly unusual, and wasting her time on feeling hideous and unlovable had served no one, and her least of all. ]
I wish I could offer you any advice, but it never truly stopped bothering me before I left. Honestly, it was getting worse. Now I'm this, instead, and it's just a different flavor of the same awful gruel.
Perhaps all I can offer is to tell you not to deal with it alone. It was my roommates' acceptance that ... at least made the psychological component of it easier to bear, at least, for me.