Chapter Text
“You looked bored, Azem.”
“Hm?” Azem snapped out of her thoughts and turned to look at Hythlodaeus sitting next to her at the table. “No, not really. If anything I can think of too many things I want to do and am having a difficult time deciding what to do first. It’s been quite a debate in my head.”
She turned back and stared out the large window in their home high in one of the tallest buildings looking out across Amaurot. It was early fall, her favorite time of year in the city when the air began to cool, the leaves began to change, and delicious food and festivals were plentiful. No matter her travels, she always strived to return to the city around this time. She planned to stay for a good six months or so in the city before traveling again unless something happened elsewhere that needed her attention. She wasn’t scheduled to appear back at the Convocation until next week, however, and wondered how best to spend her time before returning to work. Hythlodaeus had taken a few days off to be with her before returning to work himself, while Emet-Selch had not, citing that “she always returns around this time—there’s no need to make a fuss about it.” She knew from Hythlodaeus that he was the fussiest one of all though, going to great lengths to make sure their home was immaculate for her return.
“There’s some music venues I haven’t been to in a while that look promising…” Azem continued, perusing a newspaper. “And there are some big names lined up at the Hall of Rhetoric that look interesting…”
“Well, if you can’t decide, I have an idea,” Hythlodaeus offered.
“Oh? Do tell.”
“A most intriguing concept came through the Bureau the other day…” He looked at her with those sparkling eyes and mischievous grin that she loved so much. “One I am very interested in testing.”
Azem folded the paper and hummed curiously in response. “What kind of concept are we talking about here? This wouldn’t be a concept that is bound to get us in… trouble …is it?” she asked with a coy smile. “That plant concept you brought back last year was a lot of fun, but it did make quite a mess of the place. I don’t think our dearest Hades ever expected to test the limits of his magical prowess by going up against deep stains. Who could have guessed that such a pigmented plant could stain the very aether in the area itself?”
Hythlodaeus laughed and shook his head. “I can assure you that this concept is significantly less likely to stain or damage furniture.” He pulled a rolled-up paper with a small concept crystal inside from the pocket of his black robes. “It’s a simple enough concept, made to be utilized for educational purposes by the sound of it. It says here that it’s a submission from a researcher in Elpis named Erinna. I’ll read the notes that came with the submission.”
He flattened the rolled paper out and read off it: “The purpose of this concept is to provide a way for learners and researchers to better understand the features present in ailuros concepts and familiars. For generations, the ailouroeidés family of species has been a popular choice for both maintaining environmental balance with their skilled hunting talents and as companions in the form of familiars. This concept temporarily imbues the user with many of the traits of these delightful creatures, including but not limited to: Longer ears with a wider range of hearing, better low-light vision, a tail for coordination and balance, and long canine teeth. My goal for this concept is that by experiencing the world through their eyes, we can learn to empathize with our creations more as well as feel for ourselves where their strengths and weaknesses lie so that we may take this knowledge forward in perfecting the concept and designing new species inspired from it.”
“That sounds adorable!” Azem clasped her hands together and smiled. “What a cute idea! If it ends up simple and stable enough, I could see it being a wonderful learning tool for children as well! Though I must admit, I was expecting something quite a bit less wholesome when you said you brought home a new concept…”
His mischievous grin returned. “Who said this is the only concept I’ve been holding on to? But I know how much you personally adore cats, and thought that you would enjoy this one to start.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet of you,” she said with a slight blush. “I say let’s give it a try! Anything else we need to know first?”
Hythlodaeus scanned over the paper. “The creator recommends conjuring an assortment of common plants and foods to try while under the enchantment to experience how it changes the senses. Easy enough. Says here the spell should last for 4-6 hours, so if we’re lucky, it’ll wear off before Emet-Selch even gets back home and he’ll be none the wiser that I snuck another concept out of the Bureau.”
“Sounds perfect! Let’s get started!”
Looking through the concept schematics inside the crystal, it was indeed an easy enough enchantment to pull off, requiring very little effort from either of them. They both turned around to cast the ability on themselves and then confirmed when done and turned back around at the same time to face one another. They each had the signature long triangular furry ears and vertical slit pupils many cats were known for, along with darker-colored markings on their faces. They did, in fact, look like very large miqo’te, not that either of them knew what such a thing was.
“Oh my goodness!” Azem gushed as her new ears perked up. “You look spectacular!”
Hythlodaeus felt his new ears, the soft fur of which matched his lilac hair. “Did you move your ears on purpose there? Or did they move in response to your emotion? It was adorable, by the way.”
“I think they moved naturally without me thinking about it. I can’t say I’ve ever thought about actively trying to move my ears before, after all.” Azem squinted and tried to consciously move her ears around. She couldn’t get them to move entirely on their own, instead making faces as she raised and lowered her eyebrows and scrunched her nose to get the ears to move in response.
Hythlodaeus chuckled into his raised hand. “I think it may take some time to adjust to a group of muscles we normally lack. Speaking of which…” He stood up and placed one foot on the chair and hiked up the back of his long robes until he could reach around and pull a long fluffy lilac tail out of his pants. “There we go, much better.”
Azem freed her tail in turn. “Interesting. My tail’s fur isn’t as long as yours, and changes color at the tip.”
They held one another’s tails and compared. “So there is some individual variation based on the user. Fascinating! Do I also possess those stripes along the side of my face, perchance?” He traced along his cheeks where the stripes appeared on hers.
“Stripes? No, you have these little lines that start under your eyes and go down and out, like this,” she said and traced along on her own face, “as well as these little spots on the outer corners of your eyes.”
“More individual variation! I would love to see just how many different fur types and patterns there are, but this is already panning out to be an even more interesting concept than I’d anticipated.”
Following along with the ideas laid out in the instructions, the two of them prepared an assortment of common plants and foods to utilize in experiencing their new senses. They both noticed how much more sensitive their sense of smell was. Aromatic herbs smelled delicious, and yet rosemary smelled repulsive to them now. Sweet foods lost much of their flavor and tasted bland, while savory foods tasted far more enticing. After ingesting a harmless aromatic herb in the mint family of plants that Erinna suggested, they found themselves giddy and energized and felt an overpowering desire to run around chasing things. They chased each other around the house before Azem created an assortment of phantom insects to chase and leap at, only for the plant’s effect to wear off after a while and leave them feeling tired and a bit embarrassed about tearing around and jumping about like small children. They tried to fix up the place as they had knocked around quite a lot of furniture and decorations in their rampage, only to devolve into giggling fits as they knocked everything one by one off of the shelves, fixed it, then put it back and did it again.
Exhaustion came for them, and the two soon curled up and went to sleep in a pile on the floor. When Azem awoke, she looked at the clock and sat bolt upright. “Oh no!” She nudged her partner awake. “Hyth! Get up! We have to clean up for real! Emet will be home any minute!”
Hythlodaeus sat up and yawned, flashing his fangs before looking at the clock. “Oh. Oh dear. I didn’t expect us to become so sleepy…”
Azem felt her head. “The enchantment hasn’t worn off yet, has it?”
Hythlodaeus shook his head. “No, but we’re still within the time range.”
“What are we going to do until it wears off, then? I don’t want to spend the rest of the night getting lectured about proper enchantment testing protocols.”
“Let’s put on our masks and hoods for now. The masks should cover the facial markings and we can fold back the ears under the hoods. The tails are easy enough to hide under the robes.”
“But then he’s going to ask why we look like that indoors at home.”
Hythlodaeus thought for a moment. “Let’s take him out as soon as he gets home then. We can say we planned to go out to get dinner with him tonight.”
“Oh, good idea! I’m quite hungry anyway.”
“So am I. It’s interesting, though. I’m really craving…”
The two locked eyes and nodded. “...Meat!” they both said.
“I’ve never craved meat more in my life than this single moment…” Azem’s ears drooped as her stomach growled.
“I’m normally rather picky about what kinds of meats I enjoy, but any of them sound delicious right now…” He shook his head. “But come, we mustn't tarry.”
The two picked up the apartment and put on their masks and cowls with all due haste, then waited by the door for Emet-Selch to return home. When he did, he had barely opened the door before Azem and Hythlodaeus darted out and pushed him back into the hallway.
“Welcome home!”
“We’re hungry! Let’s go get dinner!”
“Wha– Dinner?” Emet-Selch stumbled back, his convocation mask still in place, and looked between the two of them. “I haven’t even had a chance to—”
“Pleeeease! Azem begged, her hands clasped in front of her. “It’s my first night back, I want to eat with everyone in the dining hall downstairs! They have such good food available right now!”
“...You two seem awfully eager to leave. Did you make a mess of the place again?”
“No, not at all!” Azem said.
Hythlodaeus opened the door back up and gestured inside. “See? No mess this time.”
Emet-Selch leaned around and looked into their home. It was difficult to read his expression with his mask on, but half the time his face looked just as grumpy as his mask made him look anyway. “Very well,” he sighed, “we can get dinner.”
Down at the dining hall, Azem ordered a roasted chicken, as in, the entire chicken, roasted, to herself, while Hythlodaeus ordered multiple plates of baked trout.
“Since when do you like trout so much?” Emet-Selch asked Hythlodaeus, who was eating the fish with all the speed his knife and fork would let him while trying to maintain some semblance of table manners. Azem had long since abandoned her eating utensils and was tearing apart and devouring the chicken with her bare hands, unaware or unfazed by the side glances she got from nearby tables.
“I never said I disliked trout,” Hythlodaeus answered between bites of fish. “I hadn’t had it for some time and so when I saw it on the menu, I thought why not?”
Emet-Selch looked at Azem, who was completely absorbed in picking a drumstick clean of every scrap of edible material, and back to Hythlodaeus. “Did you two somehow manage to lose track of time and forget to eat all day? I could expect as much from Azem if left alone for too long, but even you, Hythlodaeus?”
Hythlodaeus shrugged. “We had food earlier today. I guess we’re both just really hungry.”
Emet-Selch frowned, and the other two glanced at one another. They knew he was onto them, but he was willing to let it play out for the time being. That was the way it usually went with them. Whatever pranks, general trouble, and other elaborate schemes they got up to, he would play their little game of cat and mouse and string them along before striking at the perfect opening.
When Emet-Selch left the table briefly, Azem and Hythlodaeus took their chance to figure out what to do.
“Now what?” Azem asked as quietly as she could in the noise of the busy dining hall. “It still hasn’t worn off!”
“We need to make sure he goes to sleep before us and wake up before he does. It should wear off overnight, but just in case…”
“Let’s take him out somewhere. Maybe we can tire him out.”
“Unless we tire out before him…”
“We’ll just have to hope we don’t…”
Emet-Selch returned to his seat, and the three returned to eating in unusually awkward silence for them.
“Let’s go dancing!” Azem said as soon as she was finished eating.
Emet-Selch turned his head to look directly at her. “You just finished eating an entire chicken , and now you want to dance?”
“Ah, er, hm…” Azem stammered. “That’s a good point. Well then… Let’s go to the Hall of Rhetoric!”
“No. Unlike you two, I have work tomorrow.”
“Oh come on! Just one debate!” Azem pleaded.
“Depending on the participants and the topic, ‘just one debate’ could very well last all night.” He crossed his arms. “Why don’t you want to go home? What are you two hiding?”
The two froze in place, wondering if the game was finished already.
“There’s something in the house, isn’t there? Something you two managed to hide from my immediate view, but it’s still in there. Why delay the inevitable? Tell me what it is and be done with it.”
“I can assure you, there is nothing in the house,” Hythlodaeus said. “I think we all learned our lesson on that front last year.”
“Knowing you two, I highly doubt that. But fine, have it your way. We’ll go to the Hall of Rhetoric tonight. But know that I will discover whatever you’re hiding soon enough…”
It was a surprisingly busy evening at the Hall of Rhetoric. As members of the Convocation, Azem and Emet-Selch never had to reserve seats and could simply show up whenever they wished and sit in the VIP seating near the front of the amphitheater, and Hythlodaeus was afforded similar privileges as a Bureau Chief as well.
“Azem! How wonderful to see you back!” One of the Hall of Rhetoric managers spotted Azem right away (the black mask made it quite easy), and approached her.
“Kalypso!” Azem embraced the other woman in a friendly hug. “I’m happy to be back myself. How have you been? It certainly looks like you have your hands full tonight.”
“I’ve been keeping busy, as you can see. And I see you brought Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch as well. I do hope you enjoy tonight’s debate—’tis one I’ve been looking forward to for weeks!”
“Ah yes, the topic of alien civilizations is always a fascinating thought experiment. I look forward to it.” Hythlodaeus hugged Kalypso in turn…only he didn’t cease the embrace at a socially mandated appropriate point. He kept her there in his arms as a blush crept out from under her white mask and she became unsure of where to put her arms or what to do.
“ Ahem. ” Emet-Selch cleared his throat and tugged on the back of Hythlodaeus’s robe.
“Oh!” He lept back suddenly and put his hands up. “My sincerest apologies! Got lost in my thoughts.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. Here, let me show you to your seats.”
It was hard for Azem to concentrate on the debate. Normally the topic of whether or not there were lost alien civilizations in the past of Etheiriys would be one she’d be very interested in hearing the arguments for and against, but tonight her thoughts kept drifting. Her senses were too heightened in a way that her mind was not accustomed to filtering out. Every single person they passed by had a unique scent—something she’d known to be true on an academic level but had never actually experienced. She wondered if this was what it was like to have soul sight, except with scent. Some people smelled repulsive, but not in a way that suggested they were actually dirty or unwashed, only unpleasant in a way she couldn’t find words for. Others smelled neutral or pleasant, while a few smelled amazing. As for Hythlodaeus and Emet-Selch? They both smelled divine .
Azem shifted in her seat. She felt restless and fidgety and now wished she would have pushed harder to go dancing instead to burn off this restless energy. She felt the need to swish her tail around and tried to position it in such a spot that she could run it back and forth along the edge of the seat without anyone noticing anything under her robes. Her mind could not follow along with the debate for more than a few statements before her thoughts would turn to how good her partners sitting on either side of her smelled, how much she wanted to bury her face in their robes and breathe in their scent, to run her fingers through their hair as she rested her head on theirs, to rub her face and body all over them and mark them with her scent… At one point she tried to cuddle up to Emet-Selch, but as she expected he pulled away and shooed her off him with a hiss of “Not now, Azem,” under his breath. She tried cuddling up to Hythlodaeus instead, but that got another scolding of “Do you two mind? We’re in public ,” as he pulled Azem back by her hood.
She touched her face. It felt flushed, and it wasn’t the temperature in the amphitheater. She rubbed her thighs together and the sensation sent a spark of desire through her as she realized just how wet she was. So wet that she worried it may have soaked through all the layers of clothing she had on. Oh no. This was bound to get her in trouble sooner rather than later. The enchantment couldn’t wear off fast enough.
She glanced over at Hythlodaeus and wondered if he was faring any better. He sat leaning forward on the edge of his seat, one leg pulled up to his chest with his arms wrapped around it. It looked natural enough…though she did notice that the way the fabric of his robes was pulled over his raised leg would work to conceal any other suspicious bulges in the fabric, and he too kept shifting around in his seat, unable to get comfortable. Even though he was the one who initially said he didn’t want to go, Emet-Selch was the only one of the three that looked fully absorbed and invested in the debate playing out and paid little attention to the other two.
When they made it home late at night, Azem and Hythlodaeus were happy to find that their last-minute plan had indeed worked, as Emet-Selch insisted on going straight to bed. They were also thankful that their mutual partner slept like a rock and was difficult to rouse once asleep, though the two decided not to press their luck and chose to “take care of themselves” as discreetly as they could on their own before crawling into bed. Chances were this was just an embarrassing and unforeseen side effect of the enchantment that Hythlodaeus could write about in his report later, and they would wake up the next day with everything back to normal.