#prev lyse i told him about that

[keicordelle]

The Daily Inconveniences of an Au Ra: Expressivity

"Boo!"

Keshet leaped, his fingers flexing into claws and his tail lashing as he spun about in search of... Alisaie, right behind him, who'd undoubtedly been hiding for an uncomfortably long time underneath his bed just so she could spring out and send him into a panic. Keshet groaned, shoving at her as she broke down in giggles, arms clutching her stomach as she laughed herself silly.

As if the constant questions about his anatomy weren't bad enough, he also had to contend with his comrades' recently discovered fascination with his "overly emotive reactions." He couldn't help it if his tail gave away his every thought! It lashed, it curled, it swayed thoughtfully (it did not wag, he was a lizard not a dog, thank you very much), all without a conscious command from its owner. As for the rest of his body, well, he couldn't really control that either. It was cultural, he was pretty sure. At least, he had claimed that it was, in the hopes that a quick explanation would dissuade further prodding, but he should have known better. He'd been leaping out of his skin every other day lately as the "Watch Keshet Overreact to Every Little Thing" game caught on amongst the Scions.

It wasn't just fear either, which was probably a good thing considering how much his friends seemed to like this game. Thancred had laughed at him the first time he won big on the mini cactpot and leapt bodily into the air, but now he spent a good amount of time trying to recreate that moment. He seemed to pride himself on his ability to make Keshet shout in excitement, punching his fist in the air or roaring gleefully.

"It's cute," Lyse had told him one day while he lamented his plight to her. "Everyone sees you as this big, scary lizard who spends more time bathing in blood than water - a heroic one, of course! But then you get a little bit excited, and you're like a kid at Starlight."

"Everyone reacts like that on the Steppe," he grumbled, tail swishing despondently.

Lyse watched it in amusement, hiding her smirk as she said, "It's not a bad thing, you know. It makes you more approachable!"

Keshet was pretty sure the only people approaching him because of his excessive emotiveness were his dastardly friends, and they were approaching quietly and from behind in an attempt to scare his tail off of him. "Maybe I should take an arrow from Y'shtola's quiver and learn to reign in my body language. Her tail hardly ever moves." The end of his tail flicked lazily without his notice, proof enough that he'd never manage to rid himself of his habits.

Lyse laughed. "Somehow I think if you tried, you'd just vibrate with pent up energy until your tail fell off."

He followed her gaze to where his tail kept time behind him and stilled it with a snort. "You may be right about that."

So maybe he couldn't help it if he laughed with his whole body and leapt out of his skin any time Alisaie popped up behind him. But his friends seemed to get a kick out of it, and really, that they teased him about it at all was just an expression of love, wasn't it? An irritating, troublesome expression of love, but love was love, and in truth he wouldn't give it up for the world. Even if it meant Alisaie hiding under his bed to scare him.

-

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