"…" he was clearly daydreaming about a plan, Kaelan was still slumped on the couch, the crimson scale burning a strange, hopeful heat through the denim of his jeans. He was trying to formulate a plan to either magically enslave Ignis or at least banish him to a non-terrestrial plane, but his thoughts kept dissolving into a thick fog of weariness.
His two friends, however, were proving to be an even more immediate distraction than the cursed appendages currently attached to his body.
Tamsin was pacing near the kitchenette, her fox tail—usually held stiffly, reflecting her disciplined nature—twitching with strained agitation as she lectured Marcus on the history of ancient Draconic curses. Marcus was leaning against the counter, a faint, childish smirk playing on his lips, enjoying her visible frustration.
"The point is, Marcus," Tamsin snapped, turning sharply, "a Dragon King's magic is tied to his ego. To reverse this, Kaelan needs to dismantle his sense of self-importance, which is impossible. And stop looking at me like that!"
"Like what? Like I think you're cute when you're lecturing?" Marcus teased, pushing off the counter with a predatory lightness. He didn't wait for her to flinch or protest. He moved with a speed that always surprised Tamsin, closing the distance in two strides.
Tamsin's eyes widened in sudden, flustered alarm, her ears snapping back. Before she could voice her inevitable protest about personal space, Marcus had slipped an arm firmly around her waist, pulling her tightly against his chest.
Tamsin froze, rigid with shock. Her usual, icy self-control was completely dismantled by the sudden, inescapable proximity.
"Marcus! Get off me!" she hissed, though her voice lacked its customary steel, sounding breathy and weak. She tried to push against his chest, but Marcus was solidly built and simply tightened his hold, resting his chin lightly on the top of her head.
"Nope," he murmured, his voice warm and deep, contradicting his earlier playful antagonism. "You're stressed, Tam. And you keep forgetting how much you need a hug when you're irate. Just ten seconds."
Tamsin's face, which Kaelan could see clearly from his vantage point, was now completely, brilliantly flushed. The crimson blush spread from her neck up to the tips of her fox ears, which were now lying flat in a gesture of absolute embarrassment. Her hands, which had been pushing at his chest, slowly curled into the fabric of his shirt instead.
And then came the telltale sign of her total capitulation: her silver-tipped fox tail, which Tamsin usually guarded with aggressive discipline, began to move. Slowly at first, and then with an undeniable, betraying eagerness, it started to wag. A full, joyful, happy fox wag.
Kaelan stared, his mouth slightly open, the sight of the fiercely independent, touch-averse Tamsin being manhandled and clearly enjoying it short-circuiting his already overloaded brain. He was exasperated by the drama, annoyed by the blatant display of affection, and utterly exhausted by his own state of magical crisis.
"Oh, for God's sake," Kaelan muttered, rubbing his temples. "Your tail is wagging. You're a contradiction."
Tamsin instantly pulled away from Marcus, her face still red, swatting him on the shoulder.
"Shut up, Kaelan! It was involuntary! That's a betrayal!" she snapped, fiercely smoothing her hair. Marcus, completely unflustered by the reprimand, just laughed—a deep, booming sound of satisfaction.
"See, Kaelan? The tail never lies," Marcus said, winking at the now livid Tamsin. He threw an arm around her shoulder again, and this time, she only grumbled, allowing the contact.
Kaelan sighed, a long, deep, rattling sound of combined stress and resignation.
"Wait," Kaelan said slowly, looking from Tamsin's aggressively defensive posture to Marcus's possessive ease. "Are you two... are you two a thing? I thought you were just perpetually one argument away from a felony charge."
Tamsin looked at Marcus, and Marcus looked at Tamsin. Tamsin mumbled something into her shoulder.
"We started dating about a month ago," Marcus announced with casual ease, pulling Tamsin closer. "She just pretends she hates it when I touch her because she has to maintain her scary façade. She secretly loves being manhandled."
"I do not love being manhandled, I merely tolerate your invasive tendencies!" Tamsin corrected, though her wagging tail completely undercut her protest.
Kaelan stared at the ceiling, then down at his own massive, fluffy tail, then back at his two utterly bizarre friends. His frustration was so immense it began to loop back on itself, hitting a point of absurd detachment.
He thought about the collar in the trash. He thought about the crimson scale in his pocket. He thought about the Dragon King across the hall, the ridiculousness of his own fluffy ears, and his friends' incredibly complicated relationship.
And then, unexpectedly, Kaelan started to laugh.
It wasn't a happy sound; it was a short, sharp, slightly manic burst of air, followed by a wheezing, choked sound of pure, exhausted hysteria. He laughed at the futility of his existence, at the absurdity of magic, and at the fact that he was surrounded by the only two people who could possibly ground him, even if they were chaos in human form.
Tamsin and Marcus stopped arguing to stare at him.
"What is wrong with you?" Tamsin asked, completely uneasy with Kaelan's strange reaction.
Kaelan wiped a tear of pure stress from his eye, the laughter subsiding into heavy, weary silence.
"Nothing," he managed, his voice hoarse. "Just realized I'm less sane than both of you combined. I'm going to take a shower and try to develop an invisibility cloak. You two can continue your deeply weird, annoying dating ritual."
He stood up, his cursed tail knocking a cushion off the couch, and headed for the bathroom, the heavy exasperation settling back over him. At least he didn't have to pretend to be normal for them. That, at least, was a small mercy in his magically altered, outraged existence.
In his bathroom he glance at his reflection in the mirror, his cat ears twitching, he take his sweatpants off, his giant tail puff up . " sigh, at least it elegant…." He pause and shake head " elegant my ass!" He corrected himself with a annoyed voice.