Fable - Ask Anything But Normal

[Zinnia]

Oh, the cheek if this one. Zinnia polished off some of the remaining portion of her food before giving her answer.

"I don't see why not."

Then she'd scoop Seri up and hold the critter beneath the crook of her arm, giving him some of the last scraps of her meal.

"You're gonna have to c-catch up though," she said, sticking her tongue out at Ispir.

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir would nod and give Seri a gentle pet as Zinnia fed them. Lavishing the fluffy haterpillar with some affection before blinking in surprise as Zinnia said he would have to catch up, stuck her tongue out at him, and presumably rushed ahead. Ispir, smiling at the cute antics, would rush after her. Up the stairs, around the corner, to the end of the hall and to the room door.

Pausing before the door, glancing nervously at Zinnia, he would fumble anxiously with the key before dropping it with a small clatter. Blushing softly and picking it up he would unlock the door. Softly pushing the door open and looking around the room there was a desk off against the right wall, a closet on the left, two bedside tables and even a small enchanted bathing tub tucked into the corner against the left corner near the door.....

And one bed.

Ispir would tense, blushing deeply, and stiffly shuffle inside before looking anywhere but at the bed. Finding a folding screen by the tub he would nod and idly comment.

"W-Well at least this is here....."

Obviously nervous.​

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia glanced about, soaking in the look of the room. The space was nice; most Anirian inns held themselves to a decently high standard, and this was not a poor part of town.

Ispir's behavior, however, was not to go unnoticed. He'd been nervous before, sure, but what had gotten him concerned now?

It dawned on Zinnia shortly after. A queen sized bed in the middle of the room, spacious enough to fit two people, but still a single bed.

Zinnia blushed a bit, but thinking back this would hardly be the most risqué situation she'd found herself sleeping in. She'd woken up in a bar seat in naught but a button-down shirt and panties back in Vel Yuna that one time...

"D-does...does it bother you? Sleeping in the same bed? I can take some pillows and blankets into the tub, if it does..." she offered, feeling oddly vulnerable despite herself.

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir was apparently VERY interested in the design of the folding screen because he simply stared at it the entire time Zinnia looked around the room. Only when she spoke did he glance at her, pause, bite his lip, and then shake his head. Not even able to verbally answer but not wanting to seem weak or scared in front of her after being the one to buy them the room.

He would then turn from the folding screen, shuffle over to the closet, pretend to look inside it's mostly empty interior and.... did a double-take. Mostly empty? Blinking down at something inside the closet Ispir would kneel down, brow furrowed, and pull up a small lockbox in both hands. Roughly a foot long and half a foot wide he would turn and give Zinnia a curious, confused look.

"Is.... I-Is this normal for inns around here to have something like this Zinni?"

Putting it down less than gracefully in the middle of the room Ispir's cap would fall off his head as he huffed.

"It's umm... kinda heavy...."

At least for him anyhow.​

 

[Zinnia]

Ispir was a curious dichotomy of a boy. Shy, yes, but seemingly still following a path towards discovery. He reminded Zinnia of herself in that regard.

And speaking of discovery...

"Huh?" she asked, turning to look at the box as she heard it set upon the floor with a thud. "Uhh...no, usually the only thing that locks is the d-door. Maybe someone left that behind?"

Zinnia set Seri down on the floor and let him wriggle off to do his own thing, then approached the box. She'd heft it, inspect it, give it a shake. All in pursuit of finding out what it was, and what might be inside.

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir would watch Zinnia heft the box that had made him nearly fall over and the box was indeed hefty. Heavy even. As Zinnia shook it the lockbox it would make a metallic rattling noise, the wood clanging and smacking against whatever the metallic contents were. Shrugging in response to Zinnia's question Ispir would retrieve his cap and plop it back on his head.

"Maybe? Umm.... do you think we should turn it in to the owner?"

Sitting back on his hands and looking up at Zinnia Ispir would then crawl over to the closet, peer inside, conjure a light, and then perk up.

"Oh! Hey Zinnia, there's a key in here!"

Crawling a bit deeper into the closet until only his lower body was visible Ispir would pluck the key from the floor and crawl back out of the closet, hopping onto his feet, and turn back to Zinnia.

"Umm.... if you think we should use it?"​

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia looked over as Ispir ducked into the closet, finding it mildly funny how his bloomers stuck out. When he reappeared he did in fact have a key in hand. Hmm...a moral quandary. The girl's gold eyes pondered over their options for a moment. Handing it over to the owner for later retrieval would be the correct thing to do, but not the interesting thing to do.

"Umm...w-well, technically I have the authority to hold something like this if I think it's suspicious. And it doesn't get much more suspicious than an abandoned l-lockbox and its key."

She'd fetch the key from Ispir, and assuming he handed it over, would carefully set the box on the floor and sit cross legged before it. Popping it open, she'd hold her breath as the lid slowly creaked open.

"Oh. Potions?"

Sure enough, six potions, each a different color, glass bottles enforced with iron bands. The containers sat nestled within an iron apparatus, which itself sat inside of the lockbox.

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir would nod and smile as Zinnia explained herself.

"Oh yeah. I forgot your'e the uhh... Dread Lady or something."

Handing over the key Ispir would sit beside Zinnia and tilt his head at the.... potions.... inside? Giving a surprised 'huh' of a noise Ispir would glance at Zinnia before rubbing the back of his head.

"I umm... I don't know how to identify potions Zinni."

The look he gave Zinnia gave the distinct impression that, hopefully, she knew how to do so.

"And why exactly six of them?"

Ispir seemed more genuinely confused than anything since this was most definitely more in Zinnia's wheelhouse as the Dread Lady.​

 

[Zinnia]

"Dread Lady." That earned a giggle from Zinnia. If nothing else it served to ease the tension, if not the confusion.

Any hope that Ispir would know what this was about was a pipe dream, of course. Expecting him to know if anything beyond the realm of music was, frankly, foolhardy. That said, Zinnia wasn't much of an alchemist either.

"I c-can't say this is really my area of expertise, either..." she confessed, bewildered.

" As for the number, I'm...really not sure on that, either. Maybe it's just what fit in the b-box best."

Reaching down, she lifted one of the potions from the metal frame it sat within. Beneath, on the frame, was etched the words:

"LIQUID COURAGE"

But Zinnia was more concerned with examining the strange, blue and silver swirling liquid within the flask.

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir would blush a bit at the cute giggle from Zinnia and simply nodded at her guess about the number of potions just fitting the box. Suddenly feeling very dumb as he mumbled.

"Th-That makes sense...."

Suddenly feeling like he would be negative help Ispir would slowly rise to his feet, walk over to the folding screen, and bite his lip before gently unfolding it across the corner of the room with the bathing tub and cleared his throat softly.

"I-I umm.... I'm going to take a bath, okay? I won't be any help with those s-so.... I'll just get ready for bed Zinni."

Double checking to make sure the screen was set up securely he would sheepishly slide behind it and set his cap aside, activate the enchantment on the tub, and gently undo his cloak before folding it up and setting it aside. Continuing to undress slowly, shyly, unaware that his shadowed silhouette could still be seen through the folding screen as he unbuttoned and slid off his shirt, then his pantaloons, before dipping a toe into the bubbling water and sighing in relief.​

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia glanced up as Ispir made to leave...well, as much as one could "leave" within the confines of a single room. She hadn't meant to make him feel unhelpful, but she could hear that little lilt in his voice.

"O-oh, um...alright. Enjoy!" she managed, unsure of if she should apologize as he slunk behind the screen.

"Let me know if you..."
Then she noticed the lack of opacity provided by the screen and felt her heart jump and her cheeks begin to burn. "N-need...anything..."

Coed showers were common practice at the Dreadlord Academy, but Zinnia rarely partook. Too dangerous for her, given her..."condition." Seeing others, or even the silhouette of others, in the buff was markedly uncommon for the girl. It didn't help that she...well, she liked Ispir, darn it.

Still, it wasn't right to stare. Once he'd dipped into the bath, she pulled her attention back to what she had been doing before, and her eyes fell to the engraving.

"Pfft, oh Kress. Ispir, these are l-labeled," she laughed, shaking her head. "That's one half of the mystery solved, I guess."

 

[Ispir Sione]

As Ispir sank into the bath and shivered at the pleasant feeling of the warm water he would blink at Zinnia 's words as she said the bottles were labeled. Feeling his own cheeks begin to burn at how silly he felt he would clear his throat and gentle call back.

"O-Oh. That... That's good!"

Facepalming himself and grumbling into his hand for being so stupid he would slide lower in the bath until his twintails floated on the surface and only his nose and head were above water. His arms crossed across his midriff as his cheeks turned pink from more than just the heat. Only for him to suddenly remember something very important and sit up a bit more in the bath.

"Oh! R-Right I... I forgot a towel umm.... There might be one in the closet I didn't see? Or maybe they're kept communally in the hall?"​

 

[Zinnia]

"Yeah, the labels are just underneath the b-bottles. Kinda like one of those chocolate boxes people get for each other on Heart and Hearth Day...I wonder if this was meant to be a g-gift for someone," Zinnia mused before closing the box up and standing, then setting the box on one of the night stands.

Ispir's request then registered in her head. The blushing returned.

"S-sure! No problem!" Zinnia answered. She checked the closet first, noting a high-up shelf within, and pulled a plush towel made of some heavy fabric from it. Then she approached the screen, towel in hand.

"I'll just, um..."

Fwump! She draped the towel overtop the screen. Best to respect Ispir's privacy, right?

The screen had other plans. Flimsy thing that it was, hastily as Zinnia as hung the towel, and heavy as the cloth was, the screen fell. It clattered to the floor in a heap along with the towel, earning a startled yelp from Zinnia.

"Oh, Kress!"

She locked eyes with Ispir and froze like a deer caught in a spotlight, her face doing its best impression of those loathsome tomatoes she so hated.

Time seemed to stretch into infinity, Zinnia's body rigid as she stared at the boy in the tub, unable to even think.

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir would nod idly at Zinnia 's agreement. Forgetting in that moment that she couldn't see him and added after realizing this.

"Thank you!"

Beginning to genuinely scrub himself with the provided soap suds would fill the tub bit by bit as Ispir took the time to clean himself. Idly getting his arms and thighs along the lines of his tattoos, the perpetual zig-zag pattern around his upper arms and his thighs, the diamond-shape at his heart, the intricate pattern upon his back would go unwashed since he couldn't reach it but he then took the time to unfasten his twintails and blinked at the towel appearing over the screen. Smiling a bit as he repeated himself.

"Th-Thank you Zin-...."

CRASH.

The screen toppled, the towel went flying, and aquamarine eyes the size of dinner plates met twin golden suns once more. Pale, lean muscle glistened softly from the water. The tattoos upon Ispir's person subtly shining a gentle aquamarine. Thankfully the soap and suds of his washing preserved his dignity and Ispir would, rather than quickly, slowly and shyly cross his arms over his chest. Blushing intensely as he averted his eyes and swallowed.

He wanted to say something, to ask her to look away or fox the screen, but a tiny part of him liked her seeing him. A part of him he couldn't put words or thoughts to. And so.... he sat there, blushing profusely, unable to look directly at her for a long moment before he tore his eyes back to her eyes and murmured sheepishly.

"Z-Zinni..... you're staring ya know?"​

 

[Zinnia]

Strangely, as much as Zinnia felt there would be a panic, it just...never arrived. No scramble to cover up, no requests to look away or cover up, just...a statement of fact.

"You're staring, ya know?"

She heard the words, felt them resonate in her skull, and acknowledged that Ispir hadn't said "don't look."

Her heart thumped away. This feeling wasn't a common one for her, but it wasn't unfamiliar, either. She didn't know it, but her pupils had slendered down somewhat, resembling cat's eyes now.

Instinct was a powerful thing for Zinnia. It always had been. Always something she had to fight, to conceal. These moments were dangerous. She cursed that she thought of them so. It felt unnatural to see a part of her own soul as a threat to herself. Then it hit her.

Flashes of a night she'd once spent in the Falwood played in her head, and she heard her own voice speak, feeling as though it had come from someone else:

"Is...is that a problem?"

 

[Ispir Sione]

Dusky, rose-red cheeks and shining aquamarine eyes would also stare into freckled, golden countenance. He saw the shift in her eyes, something about her... changing? In a way that made him feel even more vulnerable than he had a moment ago when the screen came crashing down. His breathe, his inhale, coming as a shaky, uneven thing Ispir would actually move before responding to Zinnia's question. Brushing his hair forward over his shoulders to his front, the intricate design upon his back glistening, bare for her to see as he ventured a shy smile and offered her the soap he had been using. His answer to her question coming only in the shake of his head.

Spoiler: The Design

Only for his words to follow a few heartbeats later as his mouth went dry with each syllable that passed his lips.

"I-I.... I've had.... h-had... trouble getting my back i-i-i-if you want to help?"

He was almost breathless by the time he finished that simple, single sentence. Barely able to form coherent words he he felt so anxious. Goosebumps peppering his skin despite the heat and he would purse his lips tightly together to try and somehow steady himself.​

 

[Zinnia]

Again the bard replied, and again Zinnia was surprised, though this time pleased as well. This time Ispir hadn't just given his permission, he'd invited Zinnia closer. Not just that, but an invitation to do something that was really rather intimate. She smiled, a glimmer of the warmth of her usual self peaking through the mode she was falling into, and nodded.

Zinnia approached, kneeling beside the tub, behind Ispir. In the moment before she rounded him her eyes would be easier to see, and her freckles would seem to glimmer as though they themselves had flecks of gold in them. As she knelt she would pull her hood back and take the soap from Ispir's hand, then look over his back as she began to wash him.

His skin was smooth and flawless, disrupted only by the channels drawn along his skin by those strange, ornate tattoos.

"These are so intricate..." she said softly, observant, her hand dipping into the tub to scoop some water which she'd allow to run back down Ispir's back. Then she traced the lines of the design, curious. "Do...do you remember anything about them?"

 

[Ispir Sione]

In truth Ispir already saw Zinnia in flecks of gold and warm, honeyed sunlight so the change to her freckles went largely unnoticed by him. Instead he drew his knees up, leaving ample room for the water in the tub to swirl and lap at the edges. In truth he did not need memories to know that this was a very intimate situation. If his stuttering and flustered responses hadn't been enough of a clue.

At the first touch he would let out a small, unprepared gasp and shiver a bit beneath her hands. His back arching a bit beneath her touch and the intricate design seemingly grooved into his skin..... WEREN'T tattoos. Only Zinnia had ever touched them. Only she could see, as he did, that they were..... almost a separate layer beneath his skin. Glowing, likely omni-present, and very, very inhuman.

It would be less accurate to call them 'tattoos' and more accurate to say that they were simply designs chiseled into his skin to show something luminous underneath. Whatever meaning that may have held. A meaning that, upon Zinnia's question, would become obvious that Ispir himself didn't even know as he shook his head.

"N-No. I've just... just always had the-em!~"

His voice would spike and hitch as her fingers brushed low on his back, her fingers brushing somewhere sensitive, and he would blush profusely before stammering.

"S-Sorry! That just.... it felt.... loud...."

Came his hesitant explanation.​

 

[Zinnia]

That descriptor, "inhuman," was exactly what rung in Zinnia's mind as she observed the leylines that ran across...no, under, Ispir's skin. Yet there was no fear or revulsion in her, only intense fascination.

Inhuman. Strange. Different.

Like me.

The sensations of Zinnia's second nature were enveloping her like a blanket now, and she was only drawn out of it by Ispir's little cry.

Fascination mixed with want, but her normal self struggled against her instinct with reason.

"'Loud?'" she repeated, curious. "Is that a good thing?"

Her hands did not pull away, only continuing to run gentle patterns across his skin. Until the skin of her fingers became not skin, but something cool and smooth, and her nails became claws that ever so softly tickled Ispir's back.

Zinnia hesitated. She was shifting, and hadn't even realized it. She pulled back suddenly. Ispir was the one who was bare, but now it was Zinnia's turn to feel vulnerable.

"I...Ispir...I need you to....i-if you happen to look back, just...p-please don't hate me, okay? And...don't freak out?"

In the absence of her hood and gloves her state was apparent. Bronze scales consumed her hands and forearms and crept across her cheeks. Horns, like a crown of brass and bone, protruded from her hairline and swept back over her skull.

Had it been someone else, had Ispir been an Anirian, she'd have fled immediately. Instead she clung to some small hope that he'd not see her as monstrous.

 

[Ispir Sione]

Breathing would become noticeably more awkward on Ispir's part as he struggled to keep the cadence of his breathe steady. The gentle, rubbing touches all along his back made him clench his eyes shut. Her question, as obvious as it was, would earn a shaky shrug. His voice wavering and more breathy as he murmured quietly.

"I-I don't..... Know. It doesn't feel bad....."

Discovery mixed with apprehension bloomed in his voice. It was only when she began to change, the sensation of skin replaced with the coolness of scales, and more pointedly the ever so gentle tickle of claws along his back, that Ispir burned a bright pink. His back arches, head tossed back gently, fists curled in his lap and.... He moaned. A tiny, shaky noise that he didn't really have reference for the meaning of. It just felt right in the moment.

When Zinnia pulled back in the next moment Ispir's eyelids would flutter open, confusion evident on his face, both from Zinnia's retreat and her words. Turning to look at her directly he met her eyes, all her changes, everything she has kept hidden, and simply asked without missing a beat

"Why would I hate you?"

His cheeks still splotched and pink he would smile gently at her, his eyes drifting to her clawed hands, and then up to her eyes, and he would add.

"You're just you. I could never hate you Zinnia. In fact...."

Extending a soaked hand, lightly letting water drip into Zinnia's lap, he would gently caress one of her horns and giggle very quietly.

"I think you look beautiful."

Suddenly swallowing and taking a deep breathe he would lower his eyes and brush a thumb along the length of her horn before murmuring.

"I.... There's also something that's been bothering me that I've wanted to show someone. I-If you don't... Mind?"​

 

[Zinnia]

"I could never hate you."

Zinnia's eyes widened. Words she would not have believed coming from the mouths of most. Her claws gripped against her own shoulders as she realized she'd withdrawn into herself as she so often did, wrapping herself in her own arms. Tears of joy welled at the edges of her draconic eyes.

"I think you're beautiful."

Words she'd only ever heard once before. Hearing them, it took every fiber of Zinnia's restraint not to tackle the bard. Her rational self blushed, her heart fluttered once again, she could have swooned.

Her instinctive self screamed within to claim Ispir and make him hers. His touch, and the words that followed, calmed her. She naturally pressed into his touch, almost cat-like in how she wanted to feel more, and her eyes slowly closed. Comfort. It was so rare for Zinnia.

When he made his request to show her something in turn, they slid open again.

More than anything Zinnia just wanted to wrap herself around Ispir now, but she tempered herself, forced herself to wait, and she nodded.

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir would adjust himself in the tub, turning to more fully face Zinnia and rising up on his knees until his entire torso was visible, down to a lean and lightly muscles "V" shape at his navel.... But no lower. His hands would gently settle onto her shoulders, his eyes never leaving her own, and he would take a shaky inhale before stating.

"O-Okay. Just.... I've never done this before on purpose."

Pausing for just a heartbeat he then added quickly.

"A-Also last time it happened I almost died....."

Before he shut his eyes and.... Began to glow. The not-tattoos upon his body radiating light as his brow furrow intensely. His mind focusing, his breathing growing more and more shallow, more relaxed even as his fingers dug gently into her shoulders. Softly scratching at her scales but he wasn't strong enough to make it hurt. Even with his muscles seized up as they were.

All at once, should Zinnia allow it, she would find herself drawn into.... Somewhere. Into something. In the span of the blink of an eye Zinnia was no longer in that simple inn room in Anirian. Instead she stood beside a fully clothed Ispir upon ancient, grey stone. Darkness as deep as the night sky surrounded them on all sides, the distant twinkling of stars all around them, save for toward down the stone path ahead.

Ispir would gently take her hand, motioning to the void off this narrow stone path and exhaled gently.

"I.... Did it. Well umm.... Don't step off the path. I don't know what happens but I don't think it's good."

Straight ahead lay a vast orrery of starlight. Distant, inscrutable figures lingered at the edges of the some sort of constellatory mass of glowing starlight.

Spoiler: Starlight

Ancient architecture of a kind Ispir had no words for would bloom like flowers pushing up from the earth at their approach, pillars and arches of celestial elegance rising at the sound of their footfalls as Ispir turned to Zinnia and asked probably the most surprising question possible.

"Do.... You know what any of this is, Zinni?"​