Eh... but I'm the one who involved myself. [He doesn't blame Steven for his untimely death when he could have ignored it and not been hurt. Really, he thinks he might've made the whole experience a lot more traumatizing for him.]
There's a pause before Yuya shifts and leans forward a little.] Hey, I know a thing or two about being an annoying person. You're going to have to try a lot harder than that.
[Not that... being kidnapped wasn't troublesome or frustrating, but it isn't really a repeat offense by Steven. Hopefully.] Those changes aren't easy, huh?
[It sounds like being asked is causing him to suddenly vent a feeling he's been holding in for a while.]
Not even really the physical stuff - having wings and body armor is even kind of cool! - but... during Full Moons...
I don't know. It's like I turn into a different person. And the more upset I am about it, the worse I get. I was just... sad that my family couldn't be here with me... but even thinking about it compelled me to do all this crazy stuff!
[Yuya nods. Honestly it sounds terrible, and so far he hasn't seen anything equally bad in witches yet.]
It's something that happens to the monsters who live here too, right? [Something they have to cope with every month, as far as Yuya understands it.] You think they know ways to make it easier? So that what's happening to you doesn't take control of you like this.
[He's got a bond, Yuya remembers, but maybe it's a lot more than that.]
I have been meaning to talk to some of the Fae I met about that... [Investigation pending.] If it's always like this, they've probably been dealing with it for hundreds of years!
[That other thing, though. Oh god. Steven flushes right up, trying to cover part of his face with this hand.]
I wasn't naked on purpose!! [Or rather, he didn't strip naked for the hell of it.] I was just... already naked, because I'd been molting, and I was so excited to have wings I didn't bother finding anything to put on first...!
[Also he'd really wanted to show his molted skin to people but he doesn't say that part because even he knows that was weird.]
I was looking for a way out of your house after you left. [Maybe the other benefit of learning illusions, being able to break them.] And kind of stumbled on them?
[Part of him wants to be mad that someone looked in his closet, but it's hard to maintain the high ground when it happened in the context of locking them in your house. He's still pretty embarrassed though.]
They're just what I leave behind when I molt! People told me the material could be useful, so I kept them. It's not, like... a big deal or anything.
They're actually pretty tough. I guess they took some cues from my gem, because apparently if you use it right, it can block a bunch of different types of weapons. Kind of like sparkly leather armor?
It's a little like the carapace that grows on my body.
That's why the bonds work so well, right? [He'll get a deeper crash course later but her still remembers some of what he's told.] Aren't your illusions doing magic, though?
[He's tried to understand it himself, by comparing the experience to the teachings they provide in the Coven, but...]
I've never done witch magic, but... I think it might work differently? Witches have to learn about spellcraft and all this stuff, but I barely have to think at all to do illusions. It just happens. It's taken some practice, but... maybe it's more like flexing a muscle than learning an equation?
Oh, yeah, you can do all kinds of stuff! I've been using it to turn invisible and sneak through the forest, or look like different people, or to make rooms look nicer...
They effect all of your senses so if you aren't a Fae like me you can't even really tell if it's real or not. Sometimes I wish I couldn't tell stuff was fake, because then I'd be able to eat whatever kind of illusion food I wanted!
[Priorities.]
I wish I still had my Gem powers from back home, but... it's interesting doing something totally different, too.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
VIDEO | SOON AFTER THEY TALK ON THE NETWORK POST
Hey, Yuya? Thanks for coming to save me, in Dorchacht. Even... Even though it was my fault they hurt you.
VIDEO
You okay?
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Are you okay? I died in one of those dreams before and it really sucked.
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[He gives Steven a thumbs up.] I'm really okay!
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[He smiles for a moment, but it quickly turns strained and embarrassed. He looks down.]
And I'm sorry for being terrible to you during the Full Moon. I must seem like a really annoying person, huh?
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There's a pause before Yuya shifts and leans forward a little.] Hey, I know a thing or two about being an annoying person. You're going to have to try a lot harder than that.
[Not that... being kidnapped wasn't troublesome or frustrating, but it isn't really a repeat offense by Steven. Hopefully.] Those changes aren't easy, huh?
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[It sounds like being asked is causing him to suddenly vent a feeling he's been holding in for a while.]
Not even really the physical stuff - having wings and body armor is even kind of cool! - but... during Full Moons...
I don't know. It's like I turn into a different person. And the more upset I am about it, the worse I get. I was just... sad that my family couldn't be here with me... but even thinking about it compelled me to do all this crazy stuff!
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It's something that happens to the monsters who live here too, right? [Something they have to cope with every month, as far as Yuya understands it.] You think they know ways to make it easier? So that what's happening to you doesn't take control of you like this.
[He's got a bond, Yuya remembers, but maybe it's a lot more than that.]
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When I was with her the month before, it wasn't so bad. But I didn't have as much to be upset about, either.
The first time it happened I went flying around naked until some Aefenglomers got angry and told me to stop!
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[Unless native monsters don't go through the same high, which just gives him even more questions.]
But if being lonely made you want to kidnap people... what feeling made you want to fly around naked?
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[That other thing, though. Oh god. Steven flushes right up, trying to cover part of his face with this hand.]
I wasn't naked on purpose!! [Or rather, he didn't strip naked for the hell of it.] I was just... already naked, because I'd been molting, and I was so excited to have wings I didn't bother finding anything to put on first...!
[Also he'd really wanted to show his molted skin to people but he doesn't say that part because even he knows that was weird.]
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[Molting. Right. Skins.] I guess flying would be cool.
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[Steven is confused for a long moment before the implication of his familiarity starts to click.]
Wait... did you... see those...?
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[Part of him wants to be mad that someone looked in his closet, but it's hard to maintain the high ground when it happened in the context of locking them in your house. He's still pretty embarrassed though.]
They're just what I leave behind when I molt! People told me the material could be useful, so I kept them. It's not, like... a big deal or anything.
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They're actually pretty tough. I guess they took some cues from my gem, because apparently if you use it right, it can block a bunch of different types of weapons. Kind of like sparkly leather armor?
It's a little like the carapace that grows on my body.
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Kinda! How did they explain it... Monsters can't do magic, but they are magic? I don't totally get it, but... it's something like that.
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[He's tried to understand it himself, by comparing the experience to the teachings they provide in the Coven, but...]
I've never done witch magic, but... I think it might work differently? Witches have to learn about spellcraft and all this stuff, but I barely have to think at all to do illusions. It just happens. It's taken some practice, but... maybe it's more like flexing a muscle than learning an equation?
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[Just comes with the awful transformation consequences.]
... I was thinking I'd like to learn to make illusions too, after the dream we had. You can do a lot with them.
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They effect all of your senses so if you aren't a Fae like me you can't even really tell if it's real or not. Sometimes I wish I couldn't tell stuff was fake, because then I'd be able to eat whatever kind of illusion food I wanted!
[Priorities.]
I wish I still had my Gem powers from back home, but... it's interesting doing something totally different, too.
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I couldn't do anything like this back home so it's all new to me. But it's kind of amazing being somewhere that everything has magic.