Outside

Calm is copyrighted to Sallie Drazzi

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Damael sat with his arms crossed on the windowsill, forehead pressed against the cool glass, blinking out. He stared at the precise spot where the car had pulled out of hours ago, watching intently for its return.

It wasn't that he worried Calm wouldn't return, he was just out to the gym, would be back precisely the time he was usually back. And every single time Damael sat there in front of the window waiting for him.

At the mental click of the passing of ten minutes, Damael glanced down at his arm.

His aqua eyes narrowed, focused on a patch of skin about three inches long. His internal magic shifted, adjusting the pigment of his skin, trying to get it down to a lighter shade of human flesh.

It was a pact between him and Calm, an agreement. Damael would sit here the entire time he was gone and practice shifting and morphing into a more human guise. On Calm's return, he would tell Damael every detail about the Outside. With enough practice, Damael would someday move beyond confining walls and be able to blend in.

Damael had learned most of his shifting magic from his father. But with eight brothers and two sisters, and being the last of that brood, his father hadn't had a great deal of time for him. Thus he'd only learned basic shifting, to his dragon form, and to a slightly more human-like form, but not one that would pass in this world.

The pigment shifting failed, pain lancing through the back of his mind. He sighed and put his forehead back against the window, eyes intent upon that space Outside.

All through his childhood his world had existed of Above and Below. Below was safe, protected, but explored within a few years after Damael had learned to walk. He'd explored every crevice and cave, every tunnel and passage. Above had had different people, a whole city over their heads waiting to be seen.

Of course, every occupant of that city hated Damael's kind, and would catch and torment them, sometimes kill them, for no other reason than that hate.

Damael had never listened, had always snuck Above to explore and watch and learn. Quite often he'd been caught and tortured, but luckily he'd always survived.

Now things had changed somewhat. Now it was Inside and Outside. Humans didn't know about Kouryou, they didn't hate them, but as a whole they tended to fear what they didn't know. It was just too risky, better to learn techniques for blending in before attempting to go and walk among humans.

His eyes flickered, heart skipping, then falling back to rhythm. His ears drooped, the car that had passed was not the one that was bringing Calm home. He sighed again, tail flicking idly.

This was going to take a lot of practice, there was still a great deal of healing his mind needed, so he couldn't push himself too hard or that would fail. He waited another ten minutes, then blinked down at his arm again.

The dark purple-gray skin shifted to very dark brown, then a little lighter. Damael took a deep breath and pushed a little harder at the pigments, trying to shift it lighter. The pain this time made him wince, the skin returning to its usual colour.

The Kouryou thumped his head back against the window, pricking his ears forward. The distant sound of a car. He watched the spot Outside intently, tail flicking in anticipation this time.

The car pulled into his view, and the little dark-skinned morph squeaked in joy and scampered to tackle his lover, ready to hear all about the Outside.





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Index