[What a difference it is. There had been nothing but eerie silence settled across the station not that long ago, only the ambient hum of tech to keep wayward visiting refugees company. The sleeping, peaceful faces of those still sequestered in their pods, a reminder that life continually remained here, perpetually hanging above their heads in the bleak dark of space.
Now there was noise; all of them, forced to be within close proximity of each other, emotions running high. Exhaustion and frustration and worry — yet none truly shown on Ardyn’s features. Inconvenient, to be certain, maybe almost frustrating if he lingered upon these thoughts more than necessary, but he is still flippant in his mannerisms, still casual in his gait. So much that he notes something out of place where others might not. A flash of a fluffy tail, the padding of paws against cold, smooth surfaces. The sound of a meow.
Ardyn, naturally, turns a corner to follow what must be a housecat wandering about the station.]
[ X'rhun has spent the last few days recuperating from the mess on the planet's surface. Never mind the constant fighting, the oh-so-close association with the Calamity from his own world, and then the death of poor Prompto had taken their toll on X'rhun's heart. He needed some time to get his head together.
Which was all well and good until he somehow turned himself into a cat. He doesn't even know what he did to trigger it – some idle thought mayhap – but the sudden shift in perspective had startled him badly, and the sharp meow that came out of his mouth as a result startled him even more. Some inelegant scrambling onto a countertop landed him in front of a mirror, and sure enough. He found himself faced with a fluffy thing, the color of his fur and the look of his eyes unchanged from his usual form, but wholly cat, where before he was only partially so.
He set to wandering the station after that – no reason not to enjoy this newfound form of his. A time or two people stopped to pet him, which he found he didn't mind so much, and then comes an all too familiar voice from behind him. X'rhun turns, tail swaying, to look up, up, up at Ardyn.
[Oh, it’s indeed a cat, and Ardyn certainly has no reason to think otherwise. So much that his eyes are devoid of any sort of recognition, which becomes all the more obvious as he crouches down, eyebrow quirking with vague amusement.]
And who might you belong to, hm? I’m sure someone is missing you dreadfully.
[He reaches out to pet his head, if this feline will allow him to do so.]
[ Oh, this is too good. Once, he gave Ardyn a hard time about speaking to cats in the hopes that one of them would be Morgana, and now he gets to witness this firsthand.
X'rhun grins a feline grin, leaning into Ardyn's outstretched hand. Obviously he is very amenable to pets. ]
[If only X'rhun knew that Ardyn was already inclined to speak aloud to a variety of animals when no one is looking. This is only further proof of the eccentricities that belong to the man named Ardyn Izunia.
But at any rate, X'rhun gets head pets. Which then transition into ear scitches, because of course they do. He doesn't know of a single cat that doesn't appreciate ear scritches.]
[ He kind of hates how much he enjoys that, but he leans into it anyway, a low purr rumbling up, unbidden.
Well. May as well play the part fully and see what sort of shenanigans he can get up to, right? He and Ardyn's sense of humor coincide enough that he'd probably find the whole thing amusing at the end, anyway.
So, he ducks under Ardyn's hand, brushing himself against his leg. Enjoy all that white fur on your nice dark pants, friend. ]
At any rate, it doesn’t seem like Ardyn cares if there’s an excess amount of fur on his clothes. He offers the mystery cat another pet or two along his side, smiling down at him.
And then, since it seems the friendly sort, deftly scoops him up and stands.]
Well, we can either find who you belong to, or you can traverse the station along with me today. What do you say to that?
[As if he actually expects the feline to respond.]
[ Well, respond he does, though X'rhun lacks the ability to speak properly in his newfound form. He looks up at Ardyn, giving him what he hopes is an agreeable-sounding meow.
He does wonder just how much he can get away with, here, and hops up on his hind legs, front paws braced on Ardyn's leg.
[Ardyn knows cats well enough to translate just what that means. This one doesn't seem to be a shy one at all, which he can appreciate. It's always a shame when one skitters off, no longer interested in the man giving them attention... but such is how cats are.]
Someone's clingy.
[He has to tease, even if it's just a cat. That's probably not surprising.
Still, Ardyn bends down and picks up X'rhun without any effort at all. He holds him out, briefly, quirking a brow at the white ball of fluff.]
Do your best not to scratch up my clothes, hm? [A moment while Ardyn situates X'rhun carefully and close in his arms. He's soft and warm, he idly notes. What a nice cat.]
[ X’rhun is extremely needy, Ardyn should know this by now.
But this is an interesting side of his friend he is getting to see – the side he lets show only when there is no one but a cat around to see it. X’rhun has seen shades of this, mostly when Ardyn has been dealing with Valiant, but this is by far his first time being on the receiving end of it all.
It almost seems unfair, leading Ardyn on like this. Mayhap he ought to end this charade sooner than later, but for now he will let it run its course for a short while longer. Ardyn tucks him close, and X’rhun leans against his chest, purring away. He has, for some foolish reason or other, always liked being close to Ardyn. Apparently, he feels no different, even as a cat. ]
[There's very little that's kept its baseline level of pleasurable with Ardyn, over the long years of his existence. But holding onto a contented cat, with it purring in his arms, is one that has remained constant.
He has nothing else to say for a moment, striding across the busied station, weaving through the crowds that he comes across with little to no effort. After a while, he murmurs:] Up you go. See if this is comfortable for you.
[And lifts X'rhun up to drape along his shoulders, like the whitest, fluffiest, purry-est scarf. Perfection.]
X'rhun kind of enjoys getting ferried around the station in Ardyn's arms, but then he goes and drapes him about his shoulders. If he were not a cat right now, he would laugh and laugh and laugh. As it is, he smiles a feline smile, butting his forehead against Ardyn's cheek.
[Ah, a cat headbutt. What else can one ask for in life???
Ardyn doesn't say anything in regards to it, but he does reach up to scratch a little at X'rhun's head. He'll leave him there, as they wander the station for a bit, with no apparent destination in sight. He half expects someone to walk up to him and claim their cat; in which Ardyn plans on making life somewhat difficult for them, but eventually he'll hand the feline over.
No such thing happens.]
I suppose you're still stuck with me for a while yet.
[He moves to a room he's claimed for himself and sits on the edge of a mattress, leaning back slightly to urge X'rhun down.]
[ He does have to wonder if this idle drifting is just a thing that Ardyn does, or if he’s out to find X’rhun’s nonexistent owner. Possibly both, not that X’rhun can comment on it one way or another.
They eventually arrive in Ardyn’s room, and X’rhun leaps from his shoulders when bidden. He pads around for a bit, looking the place over from his new perspective. This is probably a good time to end the ruse, though as the thought crosses his mind, quick on its heels is another, more worrying thought: he doesn’t actually know how to change back.
He’s a mage, of course, so he should reasonably be able to figure it out. He plops himself down in the middle of the room, eyes shut, trying to will the transformation to happen, but when it doesn’t, he truly begins to worry.
Worry that shows in the rather piteous little meow he lets out. Now what?? ]
[Ardyn shifts a bit, in an attempt to remove his long black coat. He does so, and tosses it rather lackadaisically on the bed; he figures that the cat will wander around for a bit, curiously, before seeing itself out.
As he crosses the room, though, the air is filled with a rather sad-sounding meow. Ardyn turns to look at X'rhun, who is seated squarely in his room.]
What a terrible cry that was. What's wrong, hungry? I haven't anything for you.
[ The next meow is a bit annoyed – no, he is not hungry!!
But he shouldn’t panic. He can figure this out. He is not living the rest of his life as a cat, even if the experience thus far has been pleasant.
X’rhun turns in a circle in his spot in the middle of the floor, plopping down to sit again. A look of such grim concentration probably looks odd on his feline features, but he wears it anyway as he tries to think back to what had triggered the change in the first place. He hadn’t been doing much – getting ready to step out of his own room and greet the day after a long while of putting his head back on straight.
He’d taken a deep breath, steeled himself, and—
And suddenly, in a brief flash of white, there is X’rhun again, Duelist uniform and rapier and all, sprawled inelegantly in the middle of Ardyn’s floor.
A beat, as he blinks owlishly at the ceiling, and then a relieved laugh. ]
Oh, thank the gods. I thought for a moment I was stuck like that.
It surprises him, and that instinct of his crackles to life, the feeling of magic just buzzing under his fingertips. But it's that familiar scarlet color that allows familiarity to sink into his mind, accompanied by an equally familiar form sprawled so unceremoniously in front of him.]
[Not one for ever being truly caught off guard, Ardyn opts to stand, looking down at X'rhun like the lazy cat he once was.]
Mm. That's rather misleading of you, isn't it?
[In his mind, he carefuly goes through all he said while he was carrying him on his shoulders. Nothing too revealing, he thinks; though preferably he would've known it was his friend instead of a stray feline.]
How long have you been able to change in such a way?
To the best of my knowledge? A few bells. It happened quite by accident earlier today.
[ Now he moves to get to his feet, plucking up his hat from the place where it slid from his head while he was on the floor. He takes a moment to brush himself off, giving his limbs a cursory inspection and seeming quite satisfied that everything is as it should be. ]
I did plan to tell you, but I ran into a bit of a hitch when I realized I did not actually know how to trigger the change.
[He considers this a moment, and Ardyn seems to settle on the idea of teasing X'rhun to make up for the fact that he was unknowingly carrying him around as a house cat.]
While I'm glad that you could return to your original form, I must say this -- there are worse fates, than being stuck as a rather-
[He reaches out... to scratch behind X'rhun's ear, since he's yet to place his hat back on his head.]
[ That is unfair. Would that he’d had a moment to brace for that, but since it catches him off-guard, he leans right into it. It seems his brief tenure as a cat has left him a little… susceptible to simple things like scratches behind the ears. How dreadfully embarrassing.
Thankfully, he’s long past the point of trying to maintain a semblance of dignity in front of Ardyn, especially when it’s just the two of them. ]
I am at all times a spoiled feline, no matter the form. You should know that by now.
[Well, Ardyn had thought that this might have been a tad bit more embarrassing for X’rhun, but it seems as if the man has become somewhat shameless in their interactions with each other. Not that it matters, of course. He finds it all the more amusing this way.
A couple more scratches behind the ear, then, as X’rhun leans into his touch.]
True. But at least like this, you’re less likely to shed all over my trousers.
[ Ardyn should realize that, given his proclivity for shaking X’rhun to pieces on a surprisingly regular basis, shame went out the window quite a while ago.
Besides, he’s kind of enjoying the attention. ]
There is a joke to be made here, something about shedding and trousers, but for the life in me I cannot come up with anything adequate. It could be that I am, perhaps, a bit distracted.
[Well, now. That's a different sort of shameless, X'rhun.]
Really? My scratching behind your ears ranks higher than subjects pertaining to shedding and trousers? I think you need to realign your priorities, my friend.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
backdated to the end of june
Now there was noise; all of them, forced to be within close proximity of each other, emotions running high. Exhaustion and frustration and worry — yet none truly shown on Ardyn’s features. Inconvenient, to be certain, maybe almost frustrating if he lingered upon these thoughts more than necessary, but he is still flippant in his mannerisms, still casual in his gait. So much that he notes something out of place where others might not. A flash of a fluffy tail, the padding of paws against cold, smooth surfaces. The sound of a meow.
Ardyn, naturally, turns a corner to follow what must be a housecat wandering about the station.]
Now, what have we here?
i have no cat icons alas
Which was all well and good until he somehow turned himself into a cat. He doesn't even know what he did to trigger it – some idle thought mayhap – but the sudden shift in perspective had startled him badly, and the sharp meow that came out of his mouth as a result startled him even more. Some inelegant scrambling onto a countertop landed him in front of a mirror, and sure enough. He found himself faced with a fluffy thing, the color of his fur and the look of his eyes unchanged from his usual form, but wholly cat, where before he was only partially so.
He set to wandering the station after that – no reason not to enjoy this newfound form of his. A time or two people stopped to pet him, which he found he didn't mind so much, and then comes an all too familiar voice from behind him. X'rhun turns, tail swaying, to look up, up, up at Ardyn.
Hello there! ]
i will use the power of my imagination
And who might you belong to, hm? I’m sure someone is missing you dreadfully.
[He reaches out to pet his head, if this feline will allow him to do so.]
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X'rhun grins a feline grin, leaning into Ardyn's outstretched hand. Obviously he is very amenable to pets. ]
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But at any rate, X'rhun gets head pets. Which then transition into ear scitches, because of course they do. He doesn't know of a single cat that doesn't appreciate ear scritches.]
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Well. May as well play the part fully and see what sort of shenanigans he can get up to, right? He and Ardyn's sense of humor coincide enough that he'd probably find the whole thing amusing at the end, anyway.
So, he ducks under Ardyn's hand, brushing himself against his leg. Enjoy all that white fur on your nice dark pants, friend. ]
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At any rate, it doesn’t seem like Ardyn cares if there’s an excess amount of fur on his clothes. He offers the mystery cat another pet or two along his side, smiling down at him.
And then, since it seems the friendly sort, deftly scoops him up and stands.]
Well, we can either find who you belong to, or you can traverse the station along with me today. What do you say to that?
[As if he actually expects the feline to respond.]
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He does wonder just how much he can get away with, here, and hops up on his hind legs, front paws braced on Ardyn's leg.
Another meow. Carry hiiiiimmmmm. ]
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Someone's clingy.
[He has to tease, even if it's just a cat. That's probably not surprising.
Still, Ardyn bends down and picks up X'rhun without any effort at all. He holds him out, briefly, quirking a brow at the white ball of fluff.]
Do your best not to scratch up my clothes, hm? [A moment while Ardyn situates X'rhun carefully and close in his arms. He's soft and warm, he idly notes. What a nice cat.]
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But this is an interesting side of his friend he is getting to see – the side he lets show only when there is no one but a cat around to see it. X’rhun has seen shades of this, mostly when Ardyn has been dealing with Valiant, but this is by far his first time being on the receiving end of it all.
It almost seems unfair, leading Ardyn on like this. Mayhap he ought to end this charade sooner than later, but for now he will let it run its course for a short while longer. Ardyn tucks him close, and X’rhun leans against his chest, purring away. He has, for some foolish reason or other, always liked being close to Ardyn. Apparently, he feels no different, even as a cat. ]
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He has nothing else to say for a moment, striding across the busied station, weaving through the crowds that he comes across with little to no effort. After a while, he murmurs:] Up you go. See if this is comfortable for you.
[And lifts X'rhun up to drape along his shoulders, like the whitest, fluffiest, purry-est scarf. Perfection.]
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X'rhun kind of enjoys getting ferried around the station in Ardyn's arms, but then he goes and drapes him about his shoulders. If he were not a cat right now, he would laugh and laugh and laugh. As it is, he smiles a feline smile, butting his forehead against Ardyn's cheek.
You silly man, you. ]
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Ardyn doesn't say anything in regards to it, but he does reach up to scratch a little at X'rhun's head. He'll leave him there, as they wander the station for a bit, with no apparent destination in sight. He half expects someone to walk up to him and claim their cat; in which Ardyn plans on making life somewhat difficult for them, but eventually he'll hand the feline over.
No such thing happens.]
I suppose you're still stuck with me for a while yet.
[He moves to a room he's claimed for himself and sits on the edge of a mattress, leaning back slightly to urge X'rhun down.]
Off, now.
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They eventually arrive in Ardyn’s room, and X’rhun leaps from his shoulders when bidden. He pads around for a bit, looking the place over from his new perspective. This is probably a good time to end the ruse, though as the thought crosses his mind, quick on its heels is another, more worrying thought: he doesn’t actually know how to change back.
He’s a mage, of course, so he should reasonably be able to figure it out. He plops himself down in the middle of the room, eyes shut, trying to will the transformation to happen, but when it doesn’t, he truly begins to worry.
Worry that shows in the rather piteous little meow he lets out. Now what?? ]
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As he crosses the room, though, the air is filled with a rather sad-sounding meow. Ardyn turns to look at X'rhun, who is seated squarely in his room.]
What a terrible cry that was. What's wrong, hungry? I haven't anything for you.
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But he shouldn’t panic. He can figure this out. He is not living the rest of his life as a cat, even if the experience thus far has been pleasant.
X’rhun turns in a circle in his spot in the middle of the floor, plopping down to sit again. A look of such grim concentration probably looks odd on his feline features, but he wears it anyway as he tries to think back to what had triggered the change in the first place. He hadn’t been doing much – getting ready to step out of his own room and greet the day after a long while of putting his head back on straight.
He’d taken a deep breath, steeled himself, and—
And suddenly, in a brief flash of white, there is X’rhun again, Duelist uniform and rapier and all, sprawled inelegantly in the middle of Ardyn’s floor.
A beat, as he blinks owlishly at the ceiling, and then a relieved laugh. ]
Oh, thank the gods. I thought for a moment I was stuck like that.
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is not at all what he expected.
It surprises him, and that instinct of his crackles to life, the feeling of magic just buzzing under his fingertips. But it's that familiar scarlet color that allows familiarity to sink into his mind, accompanied by an equally familiar form sprawled so unceremoniously in front of him.]
...X'rhun?
[the. fuck.]
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He hasn’t moved from his place on the floor, and glances up at Ardyn with a grin. ]
Hello! I will admit this is not quite how I had planned to spend my day, but thank you for the ride around the station. It was lovely.
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Mm. That's rather misleading of you, isn't it?
[In his mind, he carefuly goes through all he said while he was carrying him on his shoulders. Nothing too revealing, he thinks; though preferably he would've known it was his friend instead of a stray feline.]
How long have you been able to change in such a way?
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[ Now he moves to get to his feet, plucking up his hat from the place where it slid from his head while he was on the floor. He takes a moment to brush himself off, giving his limbs a cursory inspection and seeming quite satisfied that everything is as it should be. ]
I did plan to tell you, but I ran into a bit of a hitch when I realized I did not actually know how to trigger the change.
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[He considers this a moment, and Ardyn seems to settle on the idea of teasing X'rhun to make up for the fact that he was unknowingly carrying him around as a house cat.]
While I'm glad that you could return to your original form, I must say this -- there are worse fates, than being stuck as a rather-
[He reaches out... to scratch behind X'rhun's ear, since he's yet to place his hat back on his head.]
-spoiled feline.
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Thankfully, he’s long past the point of trying to maintain a semblance of dignity in front of Ardyn, especially when it’s just the two of them. ]
I am at all times a spoiled feline, no matter the form. You should know that by now.
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A couple more scratches behind the ear, then, as X’rhun leans into his touch.]
True. But at least like this, you’re less likely to shed all over my trousers.
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Besides, he’s kind of enjoying the attention. ]
There is a joke to be made here, something about shedding and trousers, but for the life in me I cannot come up with anything adequate. It could be that I am, perhaps, a bit distracted.
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Really? My scratching behind your ears ranks higher than subjects pertaining to shedding and trousers? I think you need to realign your priorities, my friend.
[He says, still petting X'rhun like a housecat.]
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