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.
[ Ah, well, he supposes she's right. He takes the gentle admonishment, conceding to the logic and the soft lining of care underneath. ]
I'm less worried about acceptance than the lack of control. People either take me as I am or they can fuck off.
[ Maybe once upon a time he would've been more worried about the opinions of other people. Ever since the military had thrown him headfirst into dreamshare, though, he'd become a lot less shy about who he was and what he stood for. ]
And I guess that just means now they get me with some weird fucking spine attachments.
[ Can you hear his tired sigh from across the city, Lortel? ]
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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.
no subject
Date: 2026-03-02 04:14 am (UTC)I'm less worried about acceptance than the lack of control. People either take me as I am or they can fuck off.
[ Maybe once upon a time he would've been more worried about the opinions of other people. Ever since the military had thrown him headfirst into dreamshare, though, he'd become a lot less shy about who he was and what he stood for. ]
And I guess that just means now they get me with some weird fucking spine attachments.
[ Can you hear his tired sigh from across the city, Lortel? ]