faderift | AFTERMATHEMATICS

"A smaller man, huh," she echoes, contemplative. She takes another bite of her food — some kind of hand-pie full of...whatever, meat and vegetables — and sorts through the myriad questions she has about man dog dog man dog to pick which one should be asked first.

"Makes sense that people'd be nicer to a dog than anything else. Do you still think the same? Or is it different? I mean...you can understand people as a dog, but you can't speak, but...do you still think in words? Do you think in words as a person? I guess I never thought about whether or not I think in words or if I just think and...the thoughts become words..."

Gently knocking his heels against the wall, Mado smiles to himself, and has to take a moment to think hard about her question.

"It's sort of like a music, I think," he decides wistfully, "when there's no need to use words, you sort of stop thinking about them, and just imagine what you want. Warmth, food, a scratch behind your ear.
When you're hungry, do you think out the sentence 'I want to eat something?' Or do you just go find something to eat?"

Athessa takes another bite. Hmmm. Deep thinks.

"Weird. Or...not weird but...interesting. Are you able to talk or uh—" She waves in a circular gesture, searching for the word. "—Communicate? With other dogs? Or other animals in general?"

Mado's grin is a sheepish one.

"Yes, in a way. I've learned from them." He looks down at his feet, still smiling as if over a private joke.
"They don't like me much, in either form. I think they can tell."

"That's a shame. Maybe you smell too people-y for them," she ventures. "What kinda stuff have you learned? Just like, how to be convincing, where to look for food and that?"

"I think so," he muses, "they know when something's amiss. Everything smells much different to dogs-- if I were one now I could tell you where you've been before this and what you've eaten today."

He scratches behind one ear.

"I find that one's nose does most of the work when it comes to food-- as for being convincing, most people won't look twice at a street dog unless it's walking on its hind legs." He grins. "And, I mean, there's a time and a place for that."

"You could tell me all that without being a dog, but I take your meaning."

After all, they have spent a good chunk of the day together thus far. She thinks by now he'd be able to figure those things out even if they hadn't.

"But honestly, that's a pretty invaluable skill in our work. Going unnoticed."

He grins, but doesn't correct her-- perhaps they've spent the day together, but his olfactory abilities go beyond that. At least she takes his point.

"Yes, I've been glad to manage it so far," he says, quirking a smile, "though I admit last night made things a little... ah. Tricky. I suppose."

"Did it? How so?"

At a guess, someone saw him turn into a dog.

"I think so. Maybe."

He scratches behind his ear again, really leaning into it this time-- how are there still fleas in winter, and what can he do to convince them to leave when he's not a dog anymore?

"The cat, so to speak, may be out of the bag for more than one." His smile is both gentle and frightened.

"Okay, well...That's not the best thing," she says, then hedges: "Buts not necessarily the end of the world, is it? Who found out?"

Mado opens his mouth to speak, then closes it with a thoughtful frown.

"Perhaps I'd better not say," he muses, "they may have secrets of their own that they'd prefer not be blabbed about." He shrugs helplessly at Athessa, his smile returning.
"One never knows."

She clicks her tongue against her teeth. Tch.

"Yeah if there's one thing Riftwatch has an abundance of it's secret-havers." Bloody typical, innit. "Are you...worried about them telling someone? Or worried that they know or...?"

Mado's smile is soft, and he sighs out at the skyline.

"I don't know," he admits, "I don't know what I'm worried about." Kick-kick go his heels on the stone below.
"I suppose that when you have lived your life one way for so long, you want to hope that, when it changes, it might be on your own terms."

"That's fair," she says, also kicking her feet loosely. After a moment of mulling it over, she shrugs a shoulder.

"I think you still have a chance for that, actually. I mean, unless someone made an announcement I'm not aware of, whoever it is that saw you change in the dream hasn't told anyone. Or at least nobody who'd say as much. So if you wanted to make sure it was on your terms, even if your hand's been forced, I think you can.

"And if nothing else, I think here's probably the safest place for that secret to get out."

Tilting his head to one side, Mado raises his eyebrows in sudden realization.

"It may have only been Colin," he admits, thinking back, "...and Edgard, but he already knew." Don't ask.
A little smile flickers back onto his face.

"I also dreamt I could be a bird."

"Colin won't tell anyone," she says automatically, completely certain of that. She would of course love to ask how Edgard knows, when until today she thought it was just herself and Yseult who were privy to his abilities, but he's back on the dream and she decides not to press.

"Do you think you might be able to do that for real? Jenny-Lou can—could do that, and it was really helpful when we were all stuck in the Donnarks."

His eyes go wide with intrigue.

"I could try," he muses, and taps his finger against his lips in thought.

"I haven't thought to do it yet. I don't even remember when I started being a dog! It just sort of happened one day, I thought about it and then I could do it."

A goal for the future, perhaps.

Athessa points at him, raising her eyebrows.

"If you do try, I wanna be there for it. In case it works."

Leaning back dramatically from her pointing finger, Mado grins.

"More likely it won't," he admits, "is that what you really want to see?"

"Well, sure!" She laughs and shrugs. What kind of question is that? "If you had the chance to see someone turn into a bird, wouldn't you take it?"

"What I mean to say is," Mado laughs in response, "at least, with my first form, well, it doesn't always entirely take, on the first try."

He gestures vaguely with his hands, moving them as if weighing something invisible.

"Some parts change and others don't. It can be a mess."

She blinks.

"So you mean...you might end up with wings instead of arms but otherwise look normal?"

"Your mental image is generous in its majesty. I think it's more likely I will have feathers and a beak and a bare human bum as I fall from a great height to my death."

Edited 2021-03-01 07:51 (UTC)

"Maybe you should try to turn into a bird while standing so you don't fall from any height? Because if that's the scenario, the bare human bum thing would be pretty hilarious."

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lumelume - 2021-03-01 21:59 (UTC) - Expand

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