eachdraidh | 1. ☾ Video | Unlocked

[Incoming video!

Of nothing but up a wall and a ceiling in Caer Glaem's interior, sadly. Toboe's not quite got it around his head through practice yet that opening a video connection doesn't mean necessarily getting video back. He's sitting nearby; any human who'd be close enough to see him would see a kid lying along a wall with his arms crossed under his neck, craning his head forward to squint at the locket's display. Beaming brightly and speaking with breezy enthusiasm.]

Uhh... hi!

We can all talk to each other like this, right? Everyone who got one of these lockets from those little ones with the wings.

-- My name's Toboe!

[Riding a happy to-himself sigh.] Wow, they're being so great here. At that feast -- I don't remember if I've ever eaten like that. [Bounces up in a laugh.]

Say, I, uh...

I've got a friend who got lost once. While he was alone, and dying, he said he, uh. [This - isn't going to sound quite to everyone else as he means it.] Dreamed that he was in Paradise.

But this is all real, huh?

I mean -- I know it's not perfect! The courts want us for a war, right? But -- are they gonna make us fight?

No matter what - [He picks a wee bit of the cheer back up.] man, it's great being around so many people like this.

[A flourish of a hopeful laugh.] So-o-o... I wanted to say hi!

Oh, uh -- hang on! [Speaking of people!] If anyone knows if you have any wolves here in the Drabwurld -- I mean, I guess someone would be pretty sure they know that, since we live here and all -- I guess I'd like to hear a little about that, too! [Still a smile in his voice.] -- I could explain! If, you know, I should or anything. I could try just getting closer to the locket, but I dunno if I would show up right - and I think that the people with wings saw me, but they didn't seem too bugged...

[Warms back up, laughs again.] Anyway! ...I sure did end up talking a lot, huh. It's, uh -- really nice meeting you guys.

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An explanation wouldn't hurt.

[ Felix has nothing to offer. He's been here a day, and he's never seen a wolf outside of illustrations; coyotes and ghouls drove them out of the swamps long before he was born. But he'd still like to know what on earth this strange bundle of cheer is so interested in vicious wild animals for.

He smiles warmly. ]

It seems real as these things come, locket and all. You said that you spoke to the people with wings?

[ Imps brought him here, not fairies. He's picturing some sort of enormous chicken-feathered chimera. ]

[On his end of the line his ears perk; his head tilts.

A first face showing up - he shifts his weight a mite to further settle.] Yeah -- the fairies, right?

Um - anyway, uh, to explain... [Again, the fairies didn't seem to mind him, so there oughtn't be any harm in admitting this.] I'm a wolf -- I don't know, I'm wondering if I'll meet them someday. If they're out there. There, uh - weren't a whole lot of us left where I come from...

I know, there've gotta be worlds where there aren't any wolves at all, but looking around here, there're plenty of worlds with humans, right?

[Said airy. Maybe over-explaining, but not an actual question, nonetheless - the bottom line is that he figured it was worth asking!]

[ Fairies, alright, that's easier to swallow. Sunlings of sorts, and that isn't so bad as some new hideously-imagined harpy. If he's a bit put out that someone else has been speaking to creatures that don't try to bite shins, well -- he can put that aside for the moment. ]

You're a wolf. [ He echoes Toboe reasonably enough, though the look on his face has been shaken ajar. It's not quite a gape, but it's getting there. ] Of course, that seems...ah.

[ Utterly mad? Hadn't there been reports of a feral child once, out west? Supposedly taken in by wild dogs; of course, he can't countenance the idea that packs of the things would teach manners.

Manners. Right. Felix pushes his hair aside and continues, attempting to regain the momentum of basic courtesy. ]

...Logical enough. I've already seen horses and fowl. You can't -- [ Smell them? Hear them? Dogs scent, he knows, but animals aren't precisely his forte. ] -- Sense them, somehow?

[He does not catch the doubt.]

Well, I haven't seen or smelled any yet, but I just left the feast. [Tilts his head off the other way, acknowledgingly. And still offscreen.] I haven't seen all that much of the castle yet.

And if there are any, I don't know if they'd be in here, anyway. If any of my pack were here they wouldn't've stayed for long. [Of that he's sure on at least one of their counts.] Kiba wouldn't have.

[Returning to that stop earlier, though - he'd scanned it as being merely taken aback, which wouldn't surprise him! And, who is he kidding - again, the fairies already seemed fine with him; he's not going to get in trouble for dropping his illusion here.

So he does! On his end of the line, the image of a boy fades into one of a wolf, settled and peering down at a locket. For the purposes of connection, he's still offscreen, which he doesn't realize - his voice gives an expectant self-amused bounce when he speaks up again.]

It's true, though! Do you see now?

[ The unhappy urge to giggle is just getting stronger and stronger. Felix presses a hand over his mouth to stifle it, peering intently back down at the screen. Accordingly, his words grow a little muffled. ]

I'm afraid that you're still out of view. I can see the ceiling quite nicely, however. [ And he's got a sneaking suspicion that it's nicer than Caer Scima's, and that's a true irritation. ] Do you intend to stay long?

Oh -- I haven't been close enough this whole time? [Stands up a bit more upright, leans in.

Wolfy muzzle doesn't move with his words.] Am I too close?

[Metacommentator regrets for his blocking the lovely view of the ceiling.]

Anyway, uh... I don't know -- I guess it depends on how things happen. There's gotta be a lot out there, but most of us live in the castle, huh? [He parks himself again. Simultaneously sitting and hunching over the connection.] I don't know if I would mind.

[ It's a good thing now that palm's clamped over his mouth, it stifles the yelp that otherwise would come tearing loose. Perhaps it's not he child who's mad.

Slowly, he lowers his hands, shifts, then awkwardly continues. ]

You, ah. You seem to have it now. [ Part of him rather stubbornly wants to ask: How on earth are you managing the locket? In the face -- muzzle? -- of apparent shapeshifters, he supposes there are better questions. ] If I spot a wolf, I promise you'll be the first to know. You don't...that is, you seem rather capable with human companionship as well.

[It took a hand to begin with, alas. His mouth opens a tad - in something that looks like an amicable smile on what is, indeed, a muzzle.]

Well, ahh - I lived with humans! [But that's beside the point. A "heh!" sound. Voice is a bit sheepishly-gratefully soft.] Would you?

Of course. [ He nods, solemnly, wondering whether he looks half so bewildered as he feels. ] You're better with it than some humans I could name, truly. Do let me know if you find any as well, will you please?

[A huff short of another little laugh and an edging-up-to-his-eyes tug at the sides of his mouth for that look of a smile a dog can manage.

Releases a little, and he angles his head further in.]

Why do you want to know about wolves?

['Tis neither probing nor a far switch from upbeatness, though there is a thought of learned in-case suspiciousness behind it. Just sniffing things out, as it were.]

Frankly?

[ Felix shrugs. He's terrible on the spot like this, and the truth isn't so dire, so best to be out with it. ]

You're the first I've met. Only coyotes and dogs, where I'm from -- and certainly, none with your vocabulary.

Uh -- [Chances a "heh" from the chest...] -- Or maybe no one recognized them. Where I come from -- most of the humans thought that we'd all died out. Most of them didn't recognize us when they saw us...

[But prattling hypothetically as a sort of joke or not, there'd be no reason for that surely unless it was the same situation - ]

Doesn't mean that there aren't any wolves where you're from, uhh -- does it?

[ It’s a curious idea — one that fits more with legends of skin-changing heroes from the hinterlands than what little Felix understands of animal behavior. Still, why not? There’s safety to be found in a disguise; he knows that well. ]

I’ve heard stories of wolves in the mountains, and upon one occasion I saw — [ A pelt, he doesn’t finish. Bad taste. ] — Illustrations in a book.

Marathat is mostly marsh and grassland, and I doubt whether there’d be prey enough for many. [ Save children. ] But I admit, I think I might prefer to think there were a few that walked among us. How did you learn to?

1. ☾ Video | Unlocked | After the Feast

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